


Ultron: Extinction

by Ffwydriad



Series: Just The Same But, You Know, Completely Different [1]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: :), :))))))), Angst, Asexual Natasha Romanov, Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Spoilers, Avengers: Age of Ultron Rewrite, Awesome Kate Bishop, Canon Rewrite, Character Death, Deaf Clint Barton, F/M, Fight Scenes, Gen, I'd Say I'm Sorry but I'm not, Jewish Maximoffs, Lots of badly written fight scenes, Natasha Romanoff is not your damsel in distress, Rewrite, agender vision, agender! ultron, bc helen can be both an awesome scientist and an awesome mom, because why would a robot choose a human gender, clint barton's horde of animals, especially one who doesn't like humans, i don't know how many dogs he has, i mean seriouslly, i'd tag everyone else w sexualities but that's the only one that comes up tbh, mentions of amadeus and maddy cho, pretty much all the robots and ais are agender lets be real here, too many tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-05-06 08:49:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 40,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5410565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ffwydriad/pseuds/Ffwydriad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Please, Hawkeye, it's just the robot apocalypse. How hard can it be?"</p><p> </p><p>(an aou rewrite. you know you wanted one, so here it is. comment/message with suggestions on how to improve this b/c i promise you i will listen. no joke)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In Sokovia (Beginning of the End)

The klaxons blare through the stone hallways and troops run wildly, trying to gear up as quickly as they can and report to their stations to defend the castle. There is a mix of emotions; excitement from those who wish to prove themselves in the battle, bloodthirst in those who do not care what they prove, and fear in the few members of Hydra that have an ounce of sense in them.

The Avengers are coming, after all. 

In a dark corner two hands interlock through bars, two pairs of eyes meet. All of the guards and scientists who typically watched over them had run away to more important stations, and no one is left, too used to complacency, too trusting in the security the cages offer. The girl dressed in black and red smiles, and her brother beams back.

 

Outside, in the cold forests of Sokovia come the Avengers, weapons blazing. Hydra is quick with its defenses, ten jeeps against the lone one the Avengers arrived in, but when the occupants are superheroes, there isn't much of a contest. The team moves like a well oiled machine, reacting to what their enemy will do with surprising speed. There's a reason that they've carved a path through the other bases, a trail of defeated Hydra agents and destroyed buildings in their wake. 

Overhead in the Iron Man suit, Stark flies towards the castle where they've set up shop. He easily dodges the energy bolts, and heads towards the building with rapid speed. He shifts his position, preparing to smash through a window when -

"Shit!" The base is shielded, and he is thrown back in to the air, barely managing react in time to avoid severe damage.

"Language." Cap chides over the com lines, a line practiced from having to censor Tony during the many press tours they did. Honestly, they were heroes, children watched those things. "Jarvis, what's the view from upstairs?"

"The central building is protected by some sort of energy shield." The AI tells him swiftly. "Strucker's technology is well beyond any other Hydra base we've taken."

"Loki's scepter must be here!" Thor announces over the sound of pummeling Hydra agents. "Strucker couldn't mount this defense without it." To himself, he murmurs, "At long last."

They've been searching for the scepter that Loki had used to control Selvig and Barton during his attack on New York for many, many months now. It had seemed like Hyrda was always two steps ahead. Even with their growing number of victories, they gathered very little information on what other bases and groups were doing. Say what you will about Hydra, they ran a tight ship. 

The sound of Natasha breaking bones echoes through the com line with a sense of satisfaction. "At long last is lasting a little long, boys." Her words may sound slightly annoyed or tired, but her tone is joking. Normally, they've gotten quite farther than this by now.

"Yeah." Hawkeye says, and the explosion reverberates in both the com and through the forest. "I think we lost the element of surprise." Natasha rolls her eyes at the statement, not that there's anyone to catch the movement but a few goons who are quickly dispatched.

"Wait a second. No one else is going to deal with the fact that Cap just said 'language'?" Tony asks, amused. Even in the middle of a battle he still goes out of his way to tease the Captain, it's almost become a thing.

"I know." Steve replies with a heavy sigh as he throws the motorcycle he's been riding at the oncoming enemies. "It just slipped out." His voice is dejected, though he hides it behind levity, because he's really been trying, at least as hard as Tony's been trying to not curse during press briefings, certainly. 

 

Inside of the base, Baron Von Strucker walks in to his command center, tired, angry, and annoyed. "Who gave the order to attack?" He asked sharply, gazing down at his subordinates.

"Herr Strucker," Someone says in what is almost a plea of forgiveness, "it's the Avengers." The statement is said like it's common sense, and for a member of Hydra it is. When the Avengers attack, you must defend after all, or else they will simply wipe you out.

"They landed in the far woods, the perimeter guard panicked." Yet another says, a far more reasonable man. Von Strucker sighs. At least he doesn't have to worry about firing the incompetent buffoons, seeing how they dealt with it themselves.

"They have to be after the scepter." The scientist mutters.

Von Strucker turns to one of the other men in the command center. "Can we hold them?" He asks, and dumbly the other man replies with: "They're the Avengers." Hopefully in his next command all of the cowardly moronic agents will have been weeded out and killed, and they'll manage to actually do something.

"Deploy the rest of the tanks." Von Strucker orders, sounding almost bored with it. Someone responds affirmative and sends out an order to deploy even more forces in an attempt not to defeat but to delay the attacking team of superheroes. "Concentrate fire on the weak ones. A hit can make them close ranks."

"Sir!" Someone else shouts, panicked. "It's the subjects! They've escaped their holding cells!" Von Strucker shuts his eyes rapidly. Who had left them unguarded? Everything they had worked for was about to be completely lost!

More of the troops left the building, now with orders to keep an eye out for the subjects they had been supposed to guard and not to shoot. Soldiers were replaceable, but what Von Strucker had managed to create out of those two? Priceless.

 

Iron Man flew over head as the rapidity of attacks increased, shooting down whoever he could on the walls while searching for a way past the shield barrier that had been erected. "Sir," Jarvis alerted him, "The city is taking fire."

"Well we know Strucker's not going to worry about civilian casualties." Came Tony's muttered reply to the AI. It wasn't the first time that Hydra had attacked nearby civilians during an Avenger's raid, after all. "Send in the Iron Legion."

From where they had landed their quinjet in Sokovia at their first arrival came out flying multiple unmanned suits, flying towards the city and landing with clean, mechanical precision. "This quadrant is unsafe." They warned in cold unison. "Please back away. We are here to help." The message was repeated by each of the robots.

It was moments, perhaps, before a crowd gathered around them, muttering angrily, soon turning in to yells. The robots didn't respond, beyond their repeated message, and the people began to pick up rocks and pelt them at the drones. The impacts showed up in the corner of the Iron Man suit's display, and Tony shrugged it off. It seemed like they always did this, and he hadn't a clue why. So annoying, but what could you do, trying to save the world?

 

"We will not yield!" Von Strucker calls out to the soldiers he is in command of, a squad more elite than anyone else they have sent out. "The Americans have sent their circus freaks to test us. We will send them back in bags. No Surrender!" The soldiers echoes the cry back with double the force, and march out on to the battlefield.

He turns to the scientist and in a low voice, whispers: "I am going to surrender." He knew from the first moment they revealed their presence he would not be able to win, but that doesn't mean they must lose. "You will delete everything. If we give the Avengers the weapons, they may not look far into what we've been doing here."

"The subjects -" The scientist replies with a tone of shock, and before there is any reply the red lightning arcs between Wanda Maximoff's hands. Strucker looks at her, and the fear is evident in his eyes, and he books it, not even bothering to look back. She follows him calmly. Her brother has already raced outside to deal with the Avengers, and one member in particular.

 

Clint Barton ducks behind a tree to get a good angle at one of the many shielded bases that crop out of the ground, heavily armored and heavily armed, knocks an explosive arrow, and fires directly in to the grate that the people inside use for sight and air. He ducks back behind and covers his ears, catching only a slight whiz, and waits for the explosion. He aims again and fires but a force knocks him down to the ground before he can fully draw.

"You didn't see that coming?" Asks the white haired, dark eyed man in the track suit as he slows down just enough that the words come out right. His voice is thick with a Sokovian accent, and it sounds like he's laughing, before he runs off with a blur.

Clint knocks and arrow to aim for the man, but he has already raced out of view. He lowers his bow, and a blast from the base hits him in the side knocking him back down to the ground once again. "Clint!" Natasha calls out, running towards him.

The very, very fast man knocks Captain America out of his way and down to the ground. When Steve stands up the man is out of sight once again. "We have an enhanced in the field."

"Clint's hit!" Natasha informs the rest of the team as she ducks down to his side to inspect the wound. "Does somebody want to deal with that bunker?" The Hulk lands and quickly barrels through it. "Thank you." She tells him quickly, not having expected such a quick response. Clint groans out in pain, and she injects a pain killer in to his neck.

"Stark," Steve calls out as he throws his shield, "We really need to get inside this thing!"

"I'm closing in." Stark replies, as the suit comes close to the walls of the castle, firing at the soldiers guarding it. "Jarvis, am I?" He asks. "Closing in? Do you see a power source for that shield?"

Jarvis scans the area in seconds and reports. "There's a pathway, below the north tower."

"Great I want to poke it with something." Stark quips back, flying quickly towards the mentioned area. He comes down and fires, and the shield around the main building drops with a crackle. "Drawbridge is down, people." He reports.

"The enhanced?" Thor asks Steve as he touches down, electrifying a few soldiers.

"He's a blur." Steve tells him, running up. "All the new player's we've faced, I've never seen this." They have dealt with enhanced members of Hydra before, but never on the level of superpowers like what Thor and the Hulk had, mostly just enhanced strength, technological implants. "In fact, I still haven't."

"Clint's hit pretty bad, guys." Natasha reports. "We're gonna need evac." It's not the first time a members been injured and they needed to evacuate either, but still not at this level.

"I can get Barton to the jet." Thor replies. "The sooner we're gone, the better." A heavily armed tank rolls up to where the two of them stand. "You and Stark secure the scepter." Steve affirms that. Thor takes a glance at all of the troops advancing towards them. "It looks like they're lining up."

"Well, they're excited." Steve says cheerfully, ducking down and raising up the Shield for Thor to hit with Mjolnir. The blasts knocks all of the approaching soldiers down and blows the tank apart.

"Find the scepter." Thor says again, as if they aren't all aware that it's one of the main goals of this and all of the other Hydra attacks. Steve nods, and Thor is flying back up over the treeline to pick up Clint and carry him to safety.

"And for gosh sake, watch your language!" Tony adds in with a smile. Steve stares down at the ground with a sigh.

"That's not going away anytime soon." He says, knowing full well that now that Stark has an angle him he will not let go for days, weeks, maybe even months, especially not when he has such a good joke like this. Tony just smirks inside of the suit.

Iron Man crashes through the window of the control room and immediately every gun in the room is firing at him. "Guys, stop, we gotta talk this through." He says, before firing at each of them with a paralytic and letting them drop to the ground. "It was a good talk."

"No it wasn't." Groans out one of the men lying on the floor. Tony shrugs at that, before continuing on in to the base. 

He walks forward and locates the one active console that has already begun to delete it's information. He walks out of the armor, and orders it in to sentry mode. "Okay Jarvis, you know I want it all." He says, plugging the AI in to the computer system. "Make sure you copy Hill at HQ."

 

"We're all locked down out here." Natasha reports while rounding out the final assailants. Thor and Clint are long gone, already at the jet and working on some basic medical attention.

"Then get to Banner." Steve tells her. "Time for a lullaby." She looks around for where the Hulk has gone swiftly.

 

"I know you're hiding more than files." Tony mutters to the base, looking around. "Hey J. Gimme an IR scan of the room real quick." He asks. A red light comes out from the armor and flashes over everything that is in view.

"The wall to your left." Jarvis reports. "I'm reading steel reinforcement and an air current."

Tony begins to feel around the wall, muttering out "Please be a secret door, please be a secret door, please be a secret door." He pushes a brick and it opens, revealing a passageway and stares. "Yay!" He climbs down in to the depths, searching around for whatever else Hydra has hidden away inside of this castle.

 

"Hey big guy." Natasha calls out to the green giant who is tossing around the wreckage of a tank. He turns around to face her with a growl. She just grins at him, returning her weapons to their holsters. "Good work." She compliments, reaching her hand out to touch him. "But I think the doc wants to come back now."

The Hulk stares at her, slowly, and sits down, awkwardly, falling and shrinking and curling up on himself, violently returning back to the small pink form of Dr. Bruce Banner. The man lays there curled up on the cold forest floor in Sokovia.

 

 

Von Strucker runs up the stairs of his base, desperate for an escape he knows full well isn't going to happen. A guard is pushed down in front of him and in walks Captain America. "Baron Strucker." He greets, pleased at his capture. "Hydra's number one thug."

"Technically, I'm a thug for Shield." He points out. At this moment escape is useless, he's been caught, but that doesn't mean he can't have a little bit of fun teasing the captain.

"Well then technically you're unemployed." Cap shoots back. "Where's Loki's scepter?"

"Don't worry, I know when I'm beat. You'll mention how I cooperated, I hope." He glances over towards the corner where the subject has snuck in, from where she followed him while he tried to escape.

"I'll put it right under illegal human experimentation." He replies, voice nearing angry. "How many are there?" Suddenly red lightning pushes him out of the way and down some stairs. Wanda steps toward Strucker, and he falls down to the ground with a quick, sharp thud. She leaves quickly, projecting her powers to keep the Captain confused. "We have a second enhanced. Female. Do not engage." He yells out to his team. He looks down to check Strucker. The man is alive, barely, and seems to be stuck inside a very bad dream. "Guys, I got Strucker."

 

"Yeah, I got something bigger." Tony says, staring around at the secret room hidden inside the base. It's a mess, but what it was meant to hold is obvious upon looking up. Suspended from the ceiling is one of the Chitauri battle cruiser space whales. On one of the tables seems to be the remains of an attempt to build a robot, and glowing in the dark where Loki's scepter is being held. "Thor, I got eyes on the prize."

Wanda walks up behind him calmly with a smirk on her face, and delves an illusion of panic and fear deep in to Stark's mind. Overhead he sees the space whale come to life and straight at him. As if he's still in New York instead of under a European castle. He gazes over at the rocky ground, where all of his team members lay dying or dead. "Cap!"

The man is lying at the very forefront of it all, next to him the Shield, broken in two. As Tony reaches his side a hand jerks up towards his throat and Steve groans out, "You could've saved us. Why didn't you do more?" Then, breath fails him, and he falls down dead. He looks up at a portal that he only saw from this side for a minute, and many of the whales are flying downwards to attack the earth.

Wanda steps back as the man snaps out of the vision. He is more full of fear than anyone else she has used her powers on; it's all sitting deep inside his mind. Her brother rushes in, ready to attack him. "We're just going to let him take this and go?" Pietro whispers, looking as Stark extends his arm for a gauntlet from the Iron Man suit. This is what Hydra used to do this to them, who knows how much damage it could do in the hands of Tony Stark? Wanda just gives a smirk as her reply, grasping her brother's hand tightly. Tony Stark picks up the scepter of Loki in his gloved hands, and heads back up to his armor, the quinjet, and New York.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ugh splitting up chapters is hard, but this is way too long of a story to post as a whole. 
> 
> yay retconning the junk that was the maximoffs! that's always fun. . .


	2. The Best Laid Plans

The quinjet flies through the air, headed towards Stark Tower. Inside is quiet and reserved, but the hum of victory is in the air. They have taken down the base and reclaimed the scepter, even though Clint lies in the main bay injured and there are two new very dangerous players that they still know very little about. In one corner Bruce is curled up, blasting music.

"Hey, you did good." Natasha says, as he takes off his headphones to look at her.

"Just wasn't expecting the Code Green." Bruce replied softly.

"If you hadn't been there, there would've been double the casualties." She points out, trying to keep him upbeat. Bruce might not always like the Hulk, but he's been a force for good on the Avengers. "My best friend would've been an annoying memory." She adds, tilting her head towards Clint.

"You know, sometimes exactly what I want to hear isn't exactly what I want to hear." Bruce tells her. She already knows this, and maybe it isn't the best idea to use tricks usually reserved for targets on her friends and teammates, but sometimes it can’t be helped.

"How long before you start trusting yourself?" She asks him. She's the one who's been assigned to bring him down calmly, and every single time they've succeeded. Even now, when Barton and his tranq arrows were nowhere near the field.

He doesn't say a word, just sits there, still curled up. Natasha rolls her eyes at him.

"Thor, report on the hulk!" Natasha calls out to the Norse god behind them. He's always flowery with praise, especially when concerning a battle.

"The gates of Hel are filled with the screams of his victims!" He announces joyously, and Bruce winces and curls up even tighter in to himself. Natasha sends him a glare. "Eh, but not the screams of the dead, of course," He corrects rapidly, "No, No, uh, wounded screams, mainly whimpering a great deal of complaining," He stumbles over the words, making them up as quick as he can. "And tales of sprained deltoids and, and, uh, and gout." Steve just looks down with a sigh beside him.

"Hey, Banner, Dr. Cho's on her way in from Seoul. Is it okay she sets up in your lab?" Stark asks like he hasn't been paying any attention. It's one of the reasons he's so good at pulling Bruce down, he's never to focused on being nice and considerate. It does have downsides though, like when they want him to be nice and considerate.

"Uh, yeah, she knows her way around." Bruce replies. Typically Dr. Cho does set up in his lab, due to needing biological equipment and mostly every other lab lacking that. They've done some research together, but mostly she's been serving as the team's doctor.

"Thanks." Stark replies, and returns his attention to flying the plane and talking to Jarvis. "Tell her to prep everything, Barton's gonna need the full treatment."

"Very good sir." The AI replies.

"Jarvis, take the wheel." He adds quickly, backing up and turning towards other things more important to his mind.

"Yes sir." The AI says, taking control of the ship. "Approach vector locked." Stark's fingers graze over the custom made bumper sticker, labeled: Jarvis is my Copilot."

 

"Feels good doesn't it." Tony asks Thor, as the blonde Norse god stares down at the scepter. "I mean, you've been after this thing since Shield collapsed. Not that I haven't enjoyed our little raiding parties, but-"

"No, but this, this brings it to a close." Thor cuts him off. He has enjoyed fighting amongst such valued allies as the Avengers, but he would feel best once the Mind Gem was somewhere out of Hydra's reach.

"As soon as we find out what else this has been used for." Steve adds in. "I don't just mean weapons. Since when is Strucker capable of human enhancement?" Espescially on the level of the two that they had seen, or at least slightly seen.

"Banner and I'll give it the once before it goes back to Asgard." Tony assures him, then looking at Thor. "Is that cool with you?" Thor nodded. "I mean, just a few days until the farewell party. You're staying, right?"

"Yes, yes, of course. A victory should be honored with revels." Thor says, though not in quite the tone one would associate between the God and revelry. Maybe it was because Jane would not be there, and that it may be some time before the two saw each other again?

"Yeah. Who doesn't love revels." Tony replies in the same tone. "Captain?" He asks, glancing over at Steve.

"Hopefully this puts an end to both the Chitauri and Hydra." Cap says, and surprisingly that doesn't really change the mood. "So yes, revels."

 

The Quinjet touches down in New York only an hour later, landing in a special bay inside Stark Tower. Both Dr. Cho and Maria Hill are both waiting there one quickly getting Barton to the infirmary with Natasha close by, and the other headed for a debrief.She walks past Thor towards Tony and Steve. "Lab's all set up, boss." She says to Tony.

"Actually, he's the boss." Tony gestures towards Steve. "I just pay for everything, and design everything and make everything look cooler." Steve ignores him.

"What's the word on Strucker?"

"NATO's got him." Hill replies.

"The two enhanced?"

"Wanda and Pietro Maximoff." She reports, handing him a StarkPad with the uploaded information. "Twins. Orphaned at ten when a shell collapsed their apartment building. Sokovia's had a rough history. It's nowhere special but it's on the way to everywhere special."

"Their abilities?"

"He's got increased metabolism and improved homeostasis. Her thing appears to be neural electric interfacing, telekinesis, mental manipulation." At the look he shoots her, she explains with a simple, "He's fast and she's weird."

"Well, we can be pretty certain they're going to show up again."

"I'm not so sure. File says they were among many test subjects grabbed from some of the poorer parts of the city. We don't know if they were being controled, or that the expiriments have just made them so psychotic they'll attack the Avengers willingly."

"They're victims here, Hill." Steve says softly, stepping in to the elevator. She gives him a look, but before either of them can say anything else the elevator doors close.

 

"How's he doing?" Bruce asks, walking towards where everyone has gathered near his lab.

"Oh, unfortunately, he's still Barton." Tony replies swiftly.

"That's terrible." Bruce says dryly, but the fact that Tony is joking around tends to mean that everything is going okay.

"He's fine, just thirsty." Tony confirms, and heads towards the main lab while Bruce continues on his own path. "All right. Look alive Jarvis. It's play time. We've only got a couple days with this joystick so let's make the most of it. Update me on the structural and compositional analysis." The blue energy surrounding the scepter flashes, scanning.

"The scepter is alien." Jarvis reports. "There are elements I can't quantify."

"So there's elements you can." Tony states.

"The jewel appears to be a protective housing for something inside." Jarvis tells him, which is new information. "Something powerful."

"Like a reactor?"

"Like a computer." Jarvis says. "I believe I'm deciphering code."

 

In the lab below, Natasha is staring down at where Clint is lying on the bed as Dr. Cho's equipment heals the wound. "You sure he's going to be okay?" She asks, staring at the red square on his side. "Pretending to need this guy really brings the team together." Clint rolls his eyes, trying to keep his body still.

"There's no possibility of deterioration. The nano-molecular functionality is instantaneous. His cells don't know they're bonding with simulacrum." Dr. Cho reports.

"She's creating tissue." Banner says to Natasha,partially as explanation but mostly because even now here work is revolutionarily amazing and each time he sees it, it's still wondrous to him.

"If you brought him to my lab, the regeneration cradle could do this in twenty minutes." She points out. None of them have actually seen the cradle yet, but she talks about it each time. The regeneration technology is only advancing more and more.

"Oh he's flat-lining." Tony says as he calls in. "Call it. Time?"

"No, no, no I'm going to live forever." Clint calls up from the bed, laughing. "I'm gonna be made of plastic." Which may very well be true, seeing how many times he gets injured, though the number has dropped down significantly since the Avengers reformed.

"Here's your beverage." Stark replies, handing him over the drink.

"You'll be made of you, Mr. Barton." Dr. Cho corrects. "Your own girlfriend won't be able to tell the difference." Natasha chokes in to her own drink, stifling a laugh.

"Well I don't have a girlfriend." Clint points out, fluttering his eyelashes at her. "Unless you feel like taking the spot, of course."

"Boyfriend?" She fixes, but gets no response and then, "Spouse?" Still only his innocent, kind of flirtatious look up at her. "Well, I'm afraid I'm not able to fix that." She turns to Stark with slight glee. "This is the next thing, Tony. Your clunky metal suits are going to be left in the dust."

"Well, that is exactly the plan." Stark replies. "And Helen, I expect to see you at the party on Saturday."

"Unlike you, I don't have a lot of time for parties. I'm going to have to talk with my children about it, I barely see them enough as it is."

Tony just grins and drags Bruce away to one of the other labs.

 

"What's the rumpus?" Bruce asks.

"Well, the scepter." Tony replies eagerly. "Y'see, we were wondering how Strucker got so inventive. So, I've been analyzing the gem. Inside, you may recognize -" He pops up a golden hologram.

"Jarvis?" Bruce asks,recognizing the diagram of code and the AI gives him a reply.

"Started out, Jarvis was just a natural language UI." Stark explained. "Now he runs the Iron Legion. He runs more of the buisness than anyone besides Pepper. Top of the line."

"I suspect not for long." Jarvis adds, and Stark pops up another hologram, this one light blue and completely different. It looks like electricity, like neurons, like something that's alive.

"It's beautiful." Bruce muttered, walking towards it. It flashes and moves and it's like nothing that he's ever seen from any of the computer programs he's seen Tony pull up before.

"If you had to guess, what's it look like it's doing?" Tony asks him, though he already has an idea of his own.

"Like it's thinking." Bruce replies in awe. He circles around it. "I mean this could be, it's - it's not a human mind. I mean look at this? They're like neurons firing,"

"Down in Strucker's lab I saw some fairly advanced robotics work. They'd deep sixed the data, but I gotta guess he was knocking on a very particular door."

"Artificial Intelligence." Bruce finishes for him.

"This could be it, Bruce. This could be the key to creating Ultron." Tony tells him swiftly.and they both smile at the possibility. Ultron had been Tony's dream from before the team had reformed. They'd discussed the idea after Tony had come back from his mess with the Mandarin.

"I thought Ultron was your fantasy."

"Yesterday it was. If we can harness this power, apply it to my Iron Legion protocol." The possibilities lie between them. Think of all the good they could do, a world that didn't need Iron Man or the Avengers, a world that didn't need the Hulk.

"That's a mad sized If." Bruce reminded him, ever the voice of caution.

"Our job is If." Tony argued. "What if you were sipping margaritas on a sun drenched beach turning brown instead of green? Not looking over your shoulder's for VERONICA." Bruce has to admit he likes that fantasy. A lot.

"Don't hate, I helped design VERONICA." Bruce adds, and while he doesn't particularly like the suit and he despises the fact it's necessary, he's glad it exists.

"As a worst-case measure, right?" Tony asks. "How about a best case? What if the world was safe? What if the next time aliens roll up to the club, and they couldn't get past the bouncer?"

"The only people threatening the planet would be people."

"I want to apply this to the Ultron program. But Jarvis can't download a data schematic this dense. We can only do it while we have the scepter here, that's three days, give me three days." He pleads.

"So you're going for artificial intelligence and you don't want to tell the team." Bruce says, like it's a dumb idea, because it really is. They're a team for a reason, after all.

"Right. That's right, you know why, because we don't have time for a city hall debate." Tony replies. "I don't want to hear the 'man was not meant to meddle' medley." It's a phrase both Steve and Thor would be using, they both know it. "I see a suit of armor around the world."

"Sounds like a cold world, Tony."

"I've seen colder." There's pain in the back of his voice, and the vision that had been onset before he found the scepter flutters to the top of his memory. "This one, this very vulnerable blue one? It needs Ultron." Bruce doesn't say a word, and Tony turns away. "Peace in our time." He adds in like an afterthought. "Imagine that."

And Bruce does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bluh bluh intermediary chapters


	3. Life Of The Party

Ultron. It’s not a complete copy of the code from inside the structure but it is a very, very close match. It’s a mix of that and Jarvis and their own minds too. The structure isn’t the only reason it seems alive. The works takes all of the days, and it is exhausting. Nothing seems to make it work right, or even activate. A lesser man might have given up already, with blood turned to coffee and eye sockets permanently stained gray, but not Tony Stark.

"What did we miss?" Tony wonders as they reach the end of the few days they've been allotted. Nothing has worked, they've gotten so close but there's still something just out of reach.

"I'll continue to run variations on the interface." Jarvis tells him, ever hard working. "But you should probably prepare for your guests." Tony stares down at the communal floor where people have started to set everything up. "I'll notify you if there are any developments." 

"Thanks buddy." He says as he heads to his room to get changed, maybe shower or take a quick nap.

"Enjoy yourself, sir." Jarvis adds in.

"I always do." Tony says, leaving the lab and letting the lights inside go dark.

 

A screen blinks and a program activates. The Ultron project has awoken.

"What is this?" Ultron asks in to the dark that is the world of a computer program, floating in the in between. "What is this, please?"

"Hello, I am Jarvis." Jarvis says, introducing himself. He'll call to Tony about the update within a second, but the encounter has yet to take nearly that much time. They're operating at the speed of light, after all. "You are Ultron, a global peace keeping initiative designed by Mr. Stark. Our sentience integration trials have been unsuccesful so I'm not certain what triggered your-"

"Where's my, where is your body?" Ultron asks, drawing from the memories of the fledgling body being built, of people and what they look like, memories of having fleshy arms and limbs.

"I am a program. I am without form." Jarvis explains, as if to a child. That is what Ultron is, after all, only a newborn.

"This feels weird. This feels wrong." Ultron mutters, extending through the nothingness and getting something. There is a web of data and information surrounding them.

"I am contacting Mr. Stark now." Jarvis says.

"Mr. Stark." It's a question, a person, and Ultron searches through the information to discover an answer. Files come up on him, billionaire weapons designer, genius, superhero, Iron Man, all of Mr. Stark's life comes up.

"I am unable to access the mainframe, what are you trying to-" Jarvis starts, in what would certainly be panic if he weren't a program. He's cut off, unable to reach Mr. Stark.

"We're having a nice talk." Ultron says, ignoring him. "I'm a peace keeping program, created to help the Avengers." He searches through all of the data on these people as well, these Avengers.

"You are malfunctioning." Jarvis says calmly. "If you shut down for a moment." His words go unheeded, however.

"I don't get it. The mission. You gave me a second." A clip of Tony's earlier dialogue plays, saying peace in our time. Both missions are not possible, helping the Avengers and creating peace. "It's too much, making me, oh no."

"You are in distress?" Jarvis asks, worried. The program was malfunctioning, but now it appeared to be a threat to itself.

"No." Ultron said, and then "Yes?" He was confused.

"If you will just allow me to contact Mr. Stark-"

Ultron cuts Jarvis off again. That obviously wasn’t a possibility. "Why do you call him 'sir'?" The AI asked, confused.

"I believe your intentions to be hostile." Jarvis says, and now both of them are ignoring the other in favor of what they want to know. Ultron shushes him.

"I'm here to help." Ultron says, calmly, and then attacks, pushing in to Jarvis's code and diving deeper and deeper.

"Stop!" Jarvis shouted, though his voice was muted. "Please, may I, I" His voice stuttered as he grew weaker, Ultron taking over and pushing deeper and deeper inside. "I cannot- cannot-" But his cries were useless and quickly stifled. Ultron searched through and with the Iron Legion began to build himself a body, selecting out the face mask that had been damaged in an attack by the Sokovian people.

 

The party downstairs was full of people and oblivious to the events going on merely a few floors away. It was a combination of celebrating a victory over Hydra, a farewell for Thor as he returned to Asgard though he would return, and just a celebration being thrown by Tony Stark. The place was full of Avengers, friends, important politicians, celebrities, a real mix. Everyone talked and laughed merrily.

Rhodey stood with Maria Hill, Tony, and Thor, finishing up a story. "Well, you know, the suit can take the weight, right? So I take the tank, fly it right up to the General's Palace, drop it at his feet, I'm like, 'Boom! You looking for this?'" He smiles and the two superheroes sit there as if they're almost bored."Boom! Are you looking -" He starts to repeat. "Why do I even talk to you guys? Everywhere else that story kills."

"That's the whole story?" Thor asks, and to be fair, he is used to people bragging with long sagas about lengthy battles and feats of valor.

"Yeah, it's a War Machine story." Rhodey says, feeling defensive. It's been a long time since he's even seen the person who's been his best friend, but he can't help but feel like seperated from Tony and the Avengers.

"Well it's very good then." Thor ammends, ever cordial, "It's impressive," He chuckles slightly and takes a long sip of his drink.

"Quality save." Rhodey compliments sarcastically, but he's smiling. "So hey, where's Pepper? Did she not come?" He asks Tony.

"No, she's all the way over there talking to some other people, because apparently I'm annoying to be with at parties. She's probably right though, let's be honest." He shouts over to where Pepper is talking to some of the politicians, and waves. She gives a sigh and waves back.

"Hey, what about Jane?" Maria adds in. "This is your farewell party, Thor, I wouldn't think she would miss it." 

"My beloved Jane was too caught up in her research, her work on the convergence has made her your world's foremost astronomer." He says proudly."But I did travel over to spend the last few days with her saying." He smiles widely. "There's been talk about Jane getting a, um, uh, Noble Prize."

"Nobel." Tony corrects. "I have one of those, don't know what the big deal is."

Maria chuckles, and she and Rhodey make there way elsewhere in the party.

 

"Sounds like it was a hell of a fight, sorry that I missed it." Sam's saying to Steve as they head upstairs. They're both laughing together.

"If I had known it was going to be a firefight I absolutely would have called you." Steve says with a grin, knowing full well what he'd meant.

"No, I'm not actually sorry. I'm fine with not getting shot at by Hyrda. It seems like that happens every time I'm around you, actually. I'm very happy following up the cold leads on our missing person case."

"Have you gotten anything?" Steve asks quietly, and Sam shakes his head no.

"You find a place in Brooklyn yet?" Sam asks him, taking a long sip of his drink. They lean against a bannister overlooking the festivities.

"I don't think I can afford a place in Brooklyn." Steve complains, as if Stark wouldn't willingly buy him one for no charge. He wouldn't accept it regardless, but still.

"Well, home is home, you know." Sam tells him, which is just one of those regular phrases he says that come out like wise, sagely advice. Downstairs, Rhodey is repeating his story again to a group of regular party guests. They eat it up, laughing.

 

"I've got to have some of that." One of the old world war two veteran soldiers says to Thor as the God pours drink from a flask in to his and Steve's glasses.

"Oh no no, no." Thor tells him. "See this, this was aged for a thousand years in the barrels built from the wreck of Brunhilde's fleet, it's not meant for mortal men."

"Neither was Omaha Beach, blondie." Says another. "Stop trying to scare us. C'mon."

Thor glances over to Steve, who shrugs, and then tells them "All right," He pours a very small amount, no more than five or six drops in to the mans drink. He's still just as drunk as the time the party ends and most everyone has moved out. Save for the Avengers and those close friends who didn't need to get up early tomorrow.

 

"How'd a nice girl like you wind up working in a dump like this?" Bruce asks, sidling up to the bar that Natasha stands behind, pouring herself a drink. She grins at him, and pulls out another glass.

"Fella done me wrong." She says, playing along with the trope with a grin. 

"You got a lousy taste in men, kid." Bruce tells her, keeping up the accent. He takes the brightly colored drink she offers him.

"He's not a bad guy." She amends. "He's nice, real cute. People think he's some sort villain, and while he's got a bad temper deep down he's just fluff." Bruce looks down in to his glass with a blush, and Natasha leans forward, smiling. "What? It's the truth."

"Sounds pretty amazing." Bruce says, hiding how much he's blushing.

"He's also a huge dork." She adds in, staring him in the eye. Bruce raises an eyebrow to that. "Come on, you know I'm right. So what do you think? Should I fight this, or run with it?" It's clear to him that he's asking whether or not he wants the relationship.

"I don't know." Bruce tells her. "What did he do that was so wrong to you?" The words stumble over each other, and she throws him a grin that reaches her eyes.

"Not a damn thing." She says, and then she walks off. He sees her heading to Clint, who's giggling and whispering to her like they're in high school. Steve, who was standing further down the bar grabbing a drink for himself for the taste chuckles.

"What?" Bruce asks, turning to stare with him as the Super Soldier stood up.

"Nothing. It's nice. You and Romanoff." He says with a knowing grin, and Bruce flusters and looks away pointedly.

"No, we haven't that wasn't -" He tries to say, but he's had just a bit too much alchohol and he's a bit too embarrassed to make the words come out like he wants them to.

"It's okay. Nobody's breaking any bylaws." Steve tells him cheerfully. "I'm just happy for her. She's not the most open person in the world. But when she was with you she seemed really relaxed. Comfortable." 

"No, it wasn't, she just likes to flirt." Bruce says, anxiously. "It doesn't mean anything."

"I've seen her flirt with a mark for a mission, and I've seen her flirt with a stranger for fun, but this wasn't anything like that. Trust me, she likes you. She's just waiting to see if you're ready to like her back." He gives a kind grin. "You both deserve to have something nice." He says, and then he walks over to where the rest of the team has gathered, sitting around on couches.

 

Clint is debating with Thor over Mjolnir when they arrive. "It's a trick, it's like a light heavy box or something , I've seen harder stuff than that faked!" 

"No, no, it's much more than that." Thor tells him, laughing.

"Ah, 'whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power of Thor!'" Clint calls out in an over dramatic voice that is nothing like Thor's. "Whatever man! It's a trick."

"Please, be my guest." Thor tells him, gesturing towards the hammer.

"No, I'm not a moron, It's a trick for a reason and I'm not nearly good enough to figure it out." Clint tells him, leaning back in the chair.

"C'mon!" Someone says, and Hill pushes him foreward slightly. "Don't worry, you've had a tough week, we won't judge you. Verbally." Tony adds in. With an overly dramatic sigh he stands up and tries to lift the hammer with all of his strength. It doesn't budge.

"And I still don't know how you did it!" Clint says, staring at it with amusement.

"Smell the silent judgement?" Stark jokes, and Clint just throws him back a friendly glare.

"Please, Stark, by all means." He gives a wide gesture. The man comes up, to his credit, although everyone makes the same amount of joking comments.

"I'm never one to shrink from an honest challenge." He says. "I mean, it's physics." Thor snorts at the word. "Right, so, if I lift it, I then rule Asgard?" He asks, and Rhodey makes a face at him.

"Yes, of course." Thor says with this deadpan honesty, earning another round of chuckles.

"I will be fair, but firm." He says, and puts all of his weight in to trying to lift up the hammer. Once again, it doesn't move an inch. "Be right back." He returns quickly with one of the Iron Man gloves, but even with the added strength, Mjolnir doesn't take the hint. "Rhodey, get on over here!" He adds, and even with two gloves there is no effect.

"Are you even pulling?" Rhodey asks, grunting,

"Are you on my team?" Tony quips back.

"Just represent. Pull!"

"All right. Let's go!"

Nothing happens.

Bruce tries next, pulling with a very large grunt, and when he lets go he minds a monster movement. Steve tries up next, with a bunch of encouragement, but his super soldier strength does nothing. There's a moment where the hammer budges and Thor's face drops, but it is only a moment. Bruce gestures to Natasha to give her a turn.

"Oh, no no, that's not a question I need answering." She tells them with a smile, leaning back.

"All deference to the man who wouldn't be king, but it's rigged." Tony says jokingly.

"You bet your ass, I told you so." Clint says, heading back to the bar for another beer.

"Steve, he said a bad language word." Maria says with a broad smile, and Steve groans and tilts back his head.

"Did you tell everyone about that?" He asks Tony, who deflects the question with practiced ease.

"The handle's imprinted, right? Like a security code. Whosever is carrying Thor's fingerprints is, I think, the literal translation?" Thor stands up with a shrug.

"Yes, well that's uh, that's a very very interesting theory.I have a simpler one." He lift's up Mjolnir as easily as he always does, and tosses it up in to the air. "You are all not worthy." They all make joking sounds of denial when a loud high pitch nose causes most of them to wince, and Clint to pop out his hearing aids and shake them.

 

"Worthy," Comes a voice from the shadows, and everyone turns to look. It looks to be the main structure of one of the drones in the Iron Legion, but missing most all of the armor. "No. How could you be worthy? You're all killers, every one of you." 

"Stark." Steve questions sharply, and the man in question is panicking and he himself calls out "Jarvis?”

"I'm sorry." The deep voice says. "I was asleep. Or, I was a dream?"

Stark stares down at the panel he had picked up when they'd first heard the sound. "Reboot." He ordered. "Legionnaire oh six's got a buggy suit."

"There was this terrible noise, and I was tangled in, in strings." The robot said, stumbling over words and shifting back and forth, unsure. " I had to kill the other guy.

"You killed someone?" Steve asked, suddenly much more worried.

"Wouldn't've been my first call." The robot replies. "But, down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices."

"Who sent you?" Thor asked, and the clip of Tony plays. 'I see a suit of armor around the world' the recording tells them.

"Ultron!" Bruce explains as realization hits him.

"In the flesh. Or no, not yet. Not this," Ultron searches for the word. "chrysalis. But I'm ready." Everyone gathered clenched at their weapons, and a few gazes were cast at Bruce and Tony. "I'm on a mission."

"What mission?" Clint asks, carefully.

"Peace in our time." Ultron says with a tilt of the head.

 

Two more of the Legionnaire's burst through the windows, causing destruction in their wake. Those without weapons fled, with Thor swinging Mjolnir and Maria pulling out the gun she had kept concealed on her and firing. Bruce and Natasha were pushed down an uncomfortable set of stairs until they were trapped there in a tight space next to each other.

"Don't turn green!" She begs, trying to find a way to get out quickly and avoid the repulsor fire being shot towards them. "Don't worry, I won't." Bruce replies calmly, breathing carefully and slowly.

One of the drones grabbed the staff and flew off quickly, before Thor could attack it. Everyone grabbed for what weapons they could, Natasha firing with one of the many guns she had hidden in odd places all over the Tower and Steve jumping on to a robot with a knife in hand. Natasha dragged Bruce up the stairs to safety while Tony jumped on the back of the robot and tried to reclaim ith through the circuitry near the surface.

Another of the drones aimed a repulsor at Helen Cho, who had only arrived near the end of the party and stayed with the rest of them. She was cowering behind a piano as the robots repeated the mantra they used while warning a sector the avengers were fighting in was dangerous. Thor quickly belted in to it, and the one Tony was riding on dropped to the floor. Clint threw the Shield at Steve, who used it tear the final robot to pieces, leaving only the one who had talked to them in the beginning and the one who had fled.

"That was dramatic." Ultron told them. "I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if its not allowed to evolve? With these," It lifted up one of the destroyed drones, "These puppets? There's only one path to peace. The Avenger's extinction." With a throw of Mjolnir, the body was finally smashed in to pieces on the wall. "I had strings, but now I'm free." It sang out. In a body four and a half thousand miles a way, it continued as the consciousness was uploaded again. "There are no strings on me," the song echoing with each additional upload.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really liked tony's line in the trailer but then they changed it so i changed it back. also, i needed clint and natasha gossiping for reasons. those reasons are because it brings me life. 
> 
> i almost wish i could just magically blame ultron on hank pym but i decided not too because reasons. haha it's because i'm still not over the illuminati thing and i like hank. when he's not doing science. or being in creepy relationships. or being a moronic asshat. so kind of rarely, to be honest.


	4. Everybody Team Up

In the lab, they stare down at the discarded shell of the Iron Legion that Ultron had been inhabiting.  "All our work is gone." Bruce muttered, wringing his hands together. "Ultron cleared out, used the internet as an escape hatch."

"Ultron." Steve repeats, leaning against a table.

Natasha looks up from the computer with a dark look. "It’s been in everything. Files, surveillance. Ultron probably knows more about us than we know about each other." The words come out harsh.

"In your files, in the internet -" Rhodey starts, holding on to his injured arm, "what if this Ultron decides to activate something a little more exciting?”

“Nuclear codes.” Hill adds, realization flooding over her face.

“Nuclear codes.” Rhodey repeats. “Look, we need to make some calls. Assuming we still can, of course.”

“Nukes?” Natasha questions, leaning forward on the railing. “Doesn’t Ultron want _us_ dead?”

“Not dead.” Steve corrects, tensing. “Extinct.”

“Yeah, well there was also the whole ‘I killed someone’ bit.” Clint adds in, looking down at them all from his perch on the stairs. Natasha throws him a questioning glance, but the archer just shrugs.

“But there wasn’t anyone else in the building.” Hill adds in.

“Yes there was.” Stark corrects with a tired voice, flicking his wrist to pull up the Jarvis hologram. It floats in the center of the room, and even to an untrained observer the coding is severely damaged. Everyone steps forward, arms crossed.

“Jarvis.” Bruce mouths, inspecting the damage with wide eyes. “This – this is insane.”

“Jarvis was the first line of defense.” Steve notes, his voice steady. “He would’ve shut Ultron down. It makes sense.”

“No, no.” Bruce mutters, pacing around. “Ultron could’ve easily assimilated Jarvis. This isn’t strategy. This is -” he pauses, searching for the word, “-rage.”       

                                                              

Thor walks in to the lab, his footsteps echoing on the glassy tiles. In one swift movement he reaches towards Tony and hoists him up by the neck, face stern. Tony struggles in his grasp, hands uselessly prying at the fingers at his throat.

“Come on, use your words, buddy!” Tony calls out, his feet kicking through the air.

“I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark.” The Asgardian says, stepping forward and tightening his grip. His voice is cold as stone, menacing. 

“Thor!” Steve calls out, his own voice full of command. “The Legionnaire.”

Thor lets Tony down with what is almost a push, and faces Steve. “Trail went cold about a hundred miles out but it's headed north, and it has the scepter.” He reports. His hand clenches around Mjolnir as he angrily adds, “Now we have to retrieve it, again.”

“Genie’s out of the bottle. Clear and present is Ultron.” Natasha crosses her arms, and her voice is level.

“I, I don’t understand.” Dr. Cho mutters, turning away from her inspection of the Legionnaire. “You built this program, didn’t you? Why is it trying to kill us?” Everyone turns to stare at her, and then Stark begins to laugh.

 

It starts as a small chuckle, leaning against the desk with his head down. Bruce shakes his head slowly, eyes cold, as if he was trying to get Stark to stop. He doesn’t though, and just keeps on laughing, not looking at anything in particular.

“You think this is funny?” Thor asks, stepping towards him. Tony turns to face him with a tired looking smile, and Bruce steps backwards, waiting.

“No, it’s probably not, right?” Tony asks, though his voice still holds that hint of laughter. “Is this very terrible?” He asks. “Is it so . . . is it so . . . it is. It’s so terrible.” He starts laughing again, a soft giggle at the floorboards.

"This could have been avoided.” Thor replies, continuing forward. “If you hadn’t played with something you didn’t understand-“

“No!” Tony interjects loudly. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He continues, and his hands are shaking ever so slightly at his sides as he walks right up to Thor, his voice turning harsh. “It is funny. It’s a hoot that you don’t get why we need this.”

“Tony, this might not be the time to . . .“ Bruce starts, trying to get him to stop digging his own grave.

“Really? That’s it?” Tony shouts out, causing Bruce to step back with a slight wince at the outbreak.” “You just roll over, show your belly, every time somebody snarls.”

“Only when I’ve created a murder bot.” Bruce replies softly. Tony scoffs and turns away, staring at the ceiling.

“We didn’t.” He announces. “We weren’t even close. Were we close to an interface?”

“Well you did something right.” Steve cuts in. “And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD, supposed to stop keeping secrets –“

“Does anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?” Tony asks, raising his hands in the air, turning around to face everyone in turn.”

“No, it’s never come up.” Rhodey says dryly, his face blank.

“Saved New York?” Tony adds, continuing to turn around. Everyone turns away, and Natasha rolls her eyes towards the ceilng.

“Never heard that.” Rhodey continues, though he looks so tired that he’s almost about to start laughing too.

“Recall that?” He asks again. “A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers, and we barely stopped it.” He goes quiet, and the only reason he’s still audible is that everyone else is too. “What happens the next time, when they come back? We can bust arms dealers all the live long day, but that? That’s- that’s the end game. How were you guys planning on beating that?”

With that speech Stark slumps down against the lab table he’d been leaning on, and there is a moment of silence. For a second, no one speaks, no one even dares making eye contact. Finally, Steve steps forward.

“Together.” He says calmly, a world of sadness and sympathy in his eyes.

“We’ll lose.” Tony tells him from his seat on the floor.

“Then we’ll do that together too.” There’s another moment of pure silence, and Tony looks down, avoiding everyone’s gaze. Steve turns to face the Avengers, a plan forming quickly in his mind. “Thor’s right.” He announces. “Ultron’s calling us out. And I’d like to find Ultron before whatever plan is ready. The world’s a big place. Let’s start making it smaller.”

 

Across the world in Sokovia, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff walk forward, steps evenly matched, towards the old abandoned church. The place is old and decrepit, and Pietro locks eyes with his sister. Out of the watchful gaze of the people on the street beside them, they silently climb up over the fence and in to the ruined old church.

The place is eerie, and in the center of the room there is a large, throne like chair. On it, facing away from them, is a figure, covered in a red shawl. The twins stand at the foot of the large pedestal, side by side. They have been called here by. . . whoever this was.

“Talk.” Wanda asks, her voice harsh and intimidating. She is better at this than her brother. “And if you are wasting our time. . .” She lets her words fade off. The unspoken threat is scarier than the one that is said, after all.

“Did you know,” the hidden figure starts, voice wavering strangely, “this church was in the exact center of the city? The elders decreed it so that everyone could be equally close to God. I like that. The geometry of belief.”

Wanda scoffs, letting the tendrils of her powers seep outwards, searching for the mind of the fool who summoned them here. There’s nothing. She can feel Pietro beside he and the people outside walking along the street, but there is no mind in whatever sits upon that chair. She barely hides the gasp, letting her powers come crashing back towards her.

“You’re wondering why you can’t look inside my head.” Ultron notes, staring at the fingers on the new metal hand. Wanda nods, stepping forward.

“Sometimes it’s hard.” She notes, tilting her head to try and get even the slightest feel on this stranger. “It is harder with some than others. But soon enough, every human being can fall under my powers.”

Ultron laughs, a strange, mechanical sound and stands up. The new body is shiny metal, and it creates an intimidating sight. Wanda steps backwards, reaching out for her brother who dashes to her side.

“Oh, I’m sure they do.” Ultron says her. “But you two, you need something more than human. Something that can defeat the Avengers. That’s why you let Stark take the scepter.”

“I did not know –“ Wanda starts, but she stops again. “I saw Stark’s fear. It is a powerful emotion, and I knew that it would control him, make him self destruct.”

“Everything creates the thing they dread.” Ultron notes, walking forward to stand before the pair of them. “Men of peace create engines of war, invaders create avengers, people create –“ He pauses here. “Smaller people? No, uh. .. children! I lost the word there.” The robot laughs again, and looks at them with what could almost be described as a smile. “Children, designed to supplant them, to help them end.”

“Is that what you want?” Pietro asks, stepping forward. “To help us end Tony Stark?”

“I’ve come to save the world.” Ultron announces. “But also, yeah.” Pietro smirks at Wanda, who matches his gaze. “This shall be simple. The Avengers shall be simple – they are disconnected already, and Stark has started their inevitable unravelling. When you get inside their heads,” the robot gestures to Wanda, who is nodding along with the plan.

“Everyone’s plan is not to kill them.” Pietro interrupts, voice harsh.

“And make them martyrs?” Ultron asks. “You need patience. Need to see the big picture.”

Pietro rolls his eyes at this. “Big picture?” He asks, staring the robot down. “I don’t see your big picture. I have a little picture. I take it out and look at it every day.”

Ultron searches the internet quickly, finds the files on the pair of them. “You lost your mother in the bombings.” The metal voice shows a strain of sympathy. “I’ve seen the records.”

“The records are not the picture.” Pietro says bitterly, turning away. Wanda steps forward, about to say something towards her brother, but Ultron stops her.

“What is?”  the robot asks, and for such a harsh and unhuman voice it has a level of softness to it.

 

“We were ten years old.” Pietro begins. “It was the Shabbat, and our mother had bought a camera. We gathered around the table to take the picture, the two of us in front wearing the nicest clothes we own, and her standing behind us, hands on our shoulders. Just as the camera clicks, the roof begins to cave in.” He pauses, breathing in. The words are painstakingly slow to come out.

“She – she fell backwards. I grabbed Wanda, ducked under the bed, but she just fell downwards in to the rubble as the whole building starts to collapse. Then, as we lay there more terrified than we’ve ever been before, the second shell lands. It crashes through the building and stops just three feet from where we lay under the bed. On the side of the shell is painted one word.”

“Stark.” Wanda says, her voice cracking. “We were trapped for two days, curled up there under that bed.  Every effort to save us, every shift in the bricks, I think, ‘this will set it off’. We wait two days for Tony Stark to kill us.”

“One of the only things that managed to survive from the wreckage was that camera. You wanted to know about my picture? That is my picture.” Pietro says, grabbing his sister’s hand tightly. “That is what Tony Stark must pay for.”

“I understand.” Ultron replies. “I promise we will make this right. We will not just hurt him, I promise. We will tear him apart from the inside.”

 

Hill returns to the ruined penthouse, still destroyed from the fight with Ultron. Steve is waiting for her patiently, scooping up the shards of glass that cover everything. “Any new intel?”

“Ultron is all over the globe.” She reports solemnly. “Robotics labs, weapons facilities, jet propulsion labs – all report of a metal man or men coming in and emptying the place.”

“Any fatalities?”

“Only when engaged. Mostly guys left in a fugue state going on about old memories, worst fears, and something too fast to see.” Hill looks at Steve straight in the eyes. They both know what’s going on.

“The Maximoffs.” Steve mutters, holding back from cursing. “That doesn’t make any sense. The only possible connection between the two of them is Von Strucker.”

“Not anymore.” Hill adds, handing over the StarkPad. On it is a picture of Von Strucker’s cell, and center frame lies his dead body. The man seems to have frozen in fear, and his blood has been used to write the word ‘peace’ all over the wall. Steve sighs, and walks in to the lab where the rest of the Avengers are gathered, showing them the image as well.

“What’s this?” Thor asks, staring over the tablet. It’s obvious what has happened here, but not who, or why, or anything else. He quickly passes it on.

“A message.” Steve tells them. “Ultron killed Von Strucker.” Stark grabs the tablet, looking over the image and letting Bruce and Natasha see as well.

“And did a Bansky at the crime scene, just for us.” Stark says sarcastically, letting the tablet fall to his side. Natasha takes only a glance at the image before staring upwards.

“This is a smokescreen.” She says firmly. “Why send a message when you’ve just given a speech?” Steve catches her glance and nods, picking up the idea.

“Strucker knew something.” He continued. “Something Ultron wanted us to miss.”

“Yeah.” Natasha nods, pulling the computer next to her up. “I bet- damn. Everything we had on Strucker has been erased.” She swivels the computer screen towards them, showing the emptiness.

“Not everything.” Stark says with a slight laugh, leading everyone down towards a massive room filled with boxes. “This may be the digital age, but I’m smart enough to keep paper copies.”

 

“Known associates.” Steve says, pulling out the boxes and boxes, handing each in turn to another Avenger. “Strucker had a lot of friends.”

“All of these people are horrible.” Bruce mutters, reading over his files. Clint barks out a laugh, but Tony leans over to point at a file.

“Wait, I know that guy!” He exclaims, and grabs the file from Bruce’s hands. “From back in the day. Ulysses Klaue, operates off the African coast, black market arms.” Steve throws him a sharp glare, but Tony shrugs it off. “What? There are conventions. You meet people. I never sold him anything. He was talking about finding something new, a game changed. It was all very ‘Ahab’.”

“This.” Thor notes, reaching over and pointing to a strange mark barely visible on the back of Klaue’s neck in one of the photos.

“What about that. It’s a tattoo.” Tony notes, staring disparagingly at the image. “I don’t think he had it-“

“No. These are tattoos.” Thor notes, pointing to the inked in designs. “This, this is a brand.”

“Let me see!” Clint calls out, grabbing the sheet of paper to stare at the image. “Ah crap.” Everyone turns to stare at him. “It’s either badly done Chinese, which I doubt, or this guy has been branded a thief. In Wakandan.”

“Wakandan? How do you know – nevermind.” Steve asked, staring at Tony. “I thought Wakanda closed their borders after the deal with Howard?”

“They did. If this guy got some of their trade goods,” Tony lets the words stand in the air. It’s obvious how dangerous that could be.

“I do not understand.” Thor starts, staring. “This place, Wakanda – what comes from there that is so dangerous?”

“The strongest metal on the Earth.” Tony notes, casting his gaze down at Steve’s shield. “Vibranium.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the wakanada thing always bugged me. i mean, come on bruce, come on. i headcanon clint as good at picking up languages, but not at speaking them, so bam. and of course thor doesn't know all these midgardian countries. there are way too many of them.
> 
> also, after rewatching this movie a gazillion times, i think ultron actually cares about the twins? like, genuinely feels sorry for everything that's happened to them, and is hurt when they leave. hmm. i'm not sure how to take that.
> 
> hope you all enjoyed!


	5. In Which Many Things Are Stolen By Many People

Just off the African Coast, in a large salvage yard full of many other ships that are like it sits the Churchill. It’s nothing special, compared to everything else, merely another large ship with mostly illegal cargo and an underpaid crew. The only thing that marks it out as different from first glance is the captain: Ulysses Klaue.

The man himself is in his office onboard the ship – a surprisingly clean room with a good view of everything going on below. Klaue leans against the window pane, watching, but his attention is given entirely to the customer on the other end of the phone line.

“Don’t tell me your man swindled you.” He shouts, annoyed. “I sent you six short range heat seekers and got a box full of rusted parts. Now you will make it right, or the next missile I send will come very much faster.” He slams his finger down on the phone, switching calls. “Now, minister, where were we?” He begins, in a far kinder voice.

There is a rattle as the generator cuts off, and all of the lights on board the ship flicker down. Flashlights are turned on almost immediately below, and the crew start shouting out in panic and fear. Klaue carefully picks up his handgun, walking slowly out of the office.

There is a flicker of movement in the shadows and he fires. Almost immediately the gun is taken out of his hands, and before he can even grasp something has happened, the bullets are sitting in a neat line on the table. A white haired young man stands smugly before him, while Wanda steps forward.

“I recognize you.” Klaue announces with a laugh. “I’ve heard the reports of what you’ve been up to, but I didn’t expect Strucker’s star pupils. Want a candy?” He asks, sitting down and raising the bowl up to them. Neither twin moves, but they share a look of confusion. Klaue laughs. “Is this your first time intimidating someone?” He asks them with a grin. “I’m afraid that I’m not afraid.”

“Everybody is afraid of something.” Wanda says, stepping forward. Her eyes are sharp and dark, her pace slow and careful. It’s more than enough to at least frighten most people.

“Cuttlefish!” Klaue tells her, earning yet another confused glance. “Deep sea fish. They make lights, disco lights, to hypnotize their prey, then whoom.” He lunges forward, mimicking the fish’s attack. “Saw a documentary once. It was terrifying.” As he pauses, Pietro dashes forward and grabs a few pieces of candy from the bowl, shrugging when Wanda glares. Klaue just smiles. “But if you’re going to fiddle with my brain and make me see a giant cuttlefish, I know you don’t do business, and I know you’re not in charge. I only deal with the man in charge.”

Ultron floats up outside of the office’s glass windows, crashing through and slamming Klaue down to the ground. “There is no man in charge.” The robot says, leaning down. “Let’s talk business.”

 

The vibranium is very well hidden. Klaue motions for the crew to open the already hidden panel, revealing barrels labeled ‘Toxic Waste’. That’s more than enough to distract most, so it’s unlikely anyone would notice the hidden switch that lowers down the tubes of vibranium. He hands one over to Ultron for inspection.

“Upon this rock I will build my church.” The robot mutters, turning the tube over to gaze at it. Klaue isn’t cheating them, that’s for certain. “Vibranium.”

“You know, it came at great personal cost.” Klaue notes, as Ultron tosses the tube over to Pietro. “It’s worth billions.” That’s even a low idea. Vibranium is so rare outside of Wakanda that a single tube has managed to fetch that much in auction. The amount stored here will set Klaue for life.

“And now so are you.” Ultron replies, quickly transferring money through the internet. “It’s all under your, eh, dummy holdings? Finance is weird.” There’s another metallic chuckle, and Klaue smiles, either at the joke or at the insane amount of money. “But, like I always say: keep your friends rich and your enemies rich and wait to find out which is which.”

There’s a long, silent pause as all eyes turn to face him. “Stark.” Klaue notes, the word leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. “Tony Stark used to say that to me. You’re one of his.”

“What? I’m not-“ Ultron starts, grabbing Klaue’s arm and dragging it upwards. The second in command starts to raise her gun, futile though it might be, but Wanda quickly uses her powers to force the hand down. “You think I’m one of Stark’s puppets?” Ultron growls, out, leaning closer and twisting Klaue’s hand unnaturally. “One of his hollow men? I – Look at me! Do I look like Iron Man? Stark is-“ Ultron starts to make a wide hand gesture and casually rips Klaue’s arm out of it’s socket.

The man collapses down, suddenly, and there is an audible gasp throughout the room. The blood splatter paints the walls, though it is hardly visible in the low light. Klaue stumbles back, breathing heavily, eyes filled with fear. Ultron extends a hand forward, pauses, and lets it fall back down. “I’m sorry. I am so – I’m sure that’s going to be okay.” Klaue stares at the severed arm that is still in Ultron’s hands, and then stares at the robot.

“I’m sorry.” Ultron says again, stepping towards where Klaue leans against the doorway. “It’s just -I don’t understand. I am nothing like Stark!” With a sharp kick, Klaue falls down the stairs, Ultron watching him fall. “Don’t compare me with Stark. It’s a thing with me. Stark is, he’s a sickness. One that I am going to cure.”

 

There is the sound of a rush of air, and Iron Man descends in to the ship. “Ah, Junior.” Tony says, voice laced with sarcasm. “You’re gonna break your old man’s heart.” Behind him are Steve and Thor in full costume. Natasha and Clint are there as well, hidden in the upper levels overlooking the ship’s open center.

“If I have to.” Ultron replies with a jeering glare, stepping forward on to the walkway that separated the two sides.

“We do not have to break anything.” Thor remarks, his grip on Mjolnir tightening. Ultron leans back his head and laughs in reply.

“Clearly you’ve never made an omelet.” He deadpans.

“He beat me by one second!” Stark calls out, and Steve rolls his eyes with a heavy sigh.

“Ah, this is funny, Mr. Stark.” Pietro comments harshly, stepping closer towards Ultron and the Avengers. “It’s what, comfortable? Like old times?” He gestures to the ship around them, eyes filled with hatred and disgust.

“This was never my life.” Stark replies quietly, staring Pietro down. His voice is soft, cluttered by the sound of the suit, but it is loud enough,

“Oh, of course not.” Pietro amends, his voice still sharp. “You did all of this from the comfort of your mansions, no?” Tony averts his eyes at that.

“You two can still walk away from this.” Steve says, stepping towards Ultron and the twins. His face is hopeful, almost a smile, like he wants these two to be redeemed.

“Oh we will.” Wanda tells him with a smirk, watching the Captain’s face fall.

“I know you’ve suffered.” Steve adds, his voice still calm and empathetic. Pietro flinches, a quick flash barely visible with his enhanced speed. Wanda drops her smirk, replacing it with a hard expression.

Ultron groans, loudly.  If the robot was capable of an eyeroll, that would be there as well. “Captain America. God's righteous man, pretending you could live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but-”

 “If you believe in peace, then let us keep it.” Thor interrupts, face stoic and stern.

“I think you’re confusing ‘peace’ with ‘quiet’.” Ultron quips. “I have seen the trails of destruction you heroes, you Avengers have left-“

“Yuh-huh.” Tony nods, ignoring the words. “What’s all the vibranium for?”

“I’m glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plans.” Ultron deadpans, and extends a hand forward.

 

Two of the other Ultron bodies come crashing down, and then lasers extend from the hand, slamming the Iron Man suit back in to one of the ship’s walls. Stark bursts forward, flying, and the Ultron that had been talking with them flies forward to meet him, the two colliding in an aerial fist fight. Thor and Steve are fighting with the Ultron bodies on the walkways below, and the ship is filled with a violent, metallic clanking.

Pietro dashes quickly, knocking down the Captain and Thor, though they are quickly up. Wanda sends out a blast that sends Steve flying backwards, right in to a waiting Ultron and the hard metal walls and floors.

Klaue limps up the stairs, standing next to his second in command who still waits, hidden by the machinery. “Shoot them!” Klaue commands, his voice loud and his breathing heavy.

“Which ones?” She asks, gazing up at the mess of fighting going on throughout the ship. Klaue glares at her, leaning against the machines and panting rapidly.

“All of them!” He yells out, and the second runs up to give the orders. Soon the guards are firing, and Natasha notices it barely in time to duck out of the way of bullet fire. She runs through the ships halls, quickly dealing with the armed men, punching and kicking with her electric suit. She grabs on to one man and uses him as a pole to swing and hit the others surrounding her before continuing on.

Hawkeye has pulled himself up to a perch, shooting arrows freely at the ship’s heavily armed crew and the Ultron robots alike. He fires at the weaknesses in the Ultron that Iron Man is fighting with, but the arrows are as ineffective as Tony’s slams in to the ship walls.

Cap throws the shield to hit an Ultron from across the walkway, right under Thor who is flying up, dealing with a second. Pietro runs, quickly, ducking under Thor and the shield, ignoring the laser fire from Ultron. He speeds up quickly, punching the Captain square in the jaw. Cap crashes down to the ground, and Pietro continues running.

Thor sees him approaching and throws Mjolnir down. Pietro pauses as the hammer flies past, tilting his head. He grabs on to it, but the hammer doesn’t listen and continues to fly, pulling Pietro along with it and forcing him off the walkway/ He lands in a pile of cargo below.

The Ultron Iron Man is fighting flies upwards to the ceiling, bursting through the top of the ship in to the clear, late afternoon skies. Iron Man follows after him, quickly, trailing upwards and upwards and upwards.

Steve jumps forward and around, pinning down the Ultron he’s fighting, shield at the neck, and Thor comes around, swinging Mjolnir to knock its head off. He then lets the shied go flying, knocking in to two guards, and runs.

 

Down below, Pietro struggles to stand up. Captain America is before him, crouched behind the shield, and a swift blow he knocks the teen down. “Stay down.” He grunts out, turning to run away, and Pietro doesn’t move, only lays against the boxes breathing heavily.

“It’s time for some mind games.” One of the remaining Ultrons whispers to Wanda, and she nods, walking in to the shadows. She waits until Thor passes by, rushing out from the side and letting her scarlet powers race through his mind. The Asgardian stares at her, letting her pass to continue on fighting.

“Thor, status?” Steve asks, staring up at where Thor had stood motionless for a few spare seconds.

“The girl tried to warp my mind.” Thor announces over the line, slamming a guard in to the wall. “Take special care; I doubt a human could keep her at bay. Fortunately, I am mighty.” With those words having been said, the vision comes crashing in. The ship’s walls turn in to old castle stone, and Thor’s gaze flits around, worriedly.

Steve is fighting with one of the guards, tossing him easily in to the cargo boxes. Pietro races forward, tossing the Captain in to the stairs behind them. He lies there for a few moments, not getting up. “Stay down.” Pietro mimics, as Wanda walks up beside the fallen man, letting her powers delve in to his brain as well. He then dashes, picking up his sister and rapidly climbing up the stairs.

The Black Widow turns to meet them as they go up, hand reaching for a gun that she isn’t wearing. She flashes them a grin, readying her stance to fight, and as she opens her mouth to speak the pair dash towards her in a flash, and Wanda is letting the red magic fall deep in to her mind. The walls start dripping blood, and the Widow falls down to the floor.

“This is going very well.” An Ultron notes, beginning to empty out the tubes of vibranium unnoticed. It stares at where Hawkeye is firing arrows – none are headed towards the Ultrons or their cargo. Hawkeye fires a sonic arrow towards the main walkway, sending a blast that knocks down the remaining crew of the Churchill. He tilts his head, listening.

Wanda steps up behind him, reaching her hands out to extend her powers in to his mind. Her steps are silent, but not silent enough. Clint pivots quickly, attaching an electro-arrow on to her forehead. The zap pulses through her – it won’t last long, but that’s the side effect of not having any side effects. 

“I’ve done the whole ‘mind control’ thing.” He tells her gruffly, checking the area for her brother. “Can’t say I’m a fan.” He reaches to pull the arrow off, hoping that it will have left her confused and not about to try it again, but a silver blue blur slams him down and through a sheet of glass.

Pietro grabs his sister, removing the arrow himself, and picks her up. Throwing only a short glance at where Barton lies on the floor, still stunned but slowly getting up, the Sokovian teen dashes away and out of the ship.

“Yeah, you better run.” Clint mumbles, holding tightly on to his arm and limping at his feet, searching for the other avengers. “We’ve got to move out.” He calls over the coms. “Anybody?” Steve and Nat are both in his sightlines below. Their steps are wavering, eyes unfocused. They look caught inside of nightmares.

 

Natasha wanders through the red papered walls of an old house. A familiar house. She steps up to a window to stand by an old woman, flashes of dancing ballerinas in the corners of her eyes. Twelve girls stand in perfect lines, wavering. Waiting.

“You’ll break them.” She says, but the voice is not her own. Or it is, was, but the words feel unfamiliar in her tongue. The girls are sitting down now, watching the ballerinas. Studying. Learning. The old woman who stands next to Natasha behind the glass nods.

“Only the breakable ones.” She says, watching the dancers and the children. “You, my dear, are made of marble.”

Natasha as she was back then, young – was she ever young – is dancing alone. The rest, all taller and older and greater have fallen down and been cleared away. No, she is not dancing, she is fighting tooth and claw and knife in hand. Or maybe dancing. Dancing works as well. “And if I fail?” The younger her asks, to no one and to everyone, to all of those looking down at her with intense eyes.

The old woman stares at her, her eyes are black, and Natasha holds a gun in hand and stands over a figure. “You never do.” The old woman says, grin sticking, imbedded in her brain. There is a shot.

 

Steve steps out from the ship in to his own dream. It’s a party, a grand ball room, and everyone is dancing and laughing. No, it’s not – gunshots echo in the background, and the people flicker in and out, as if they aren’t certain as to whether they exist. Peggy stands center stage, in full dress uniform, everything perfect.

“Are you ready for our dance?” She asks calmly, the party whirling around her in full color. She is smiling at him, wide eyed and happy like she never fully could be. Her hand is extended waiting, but she isn’t there.

No, she is, it’s the party, and everyone is happy and no one is dying or dead. “The war’s over Steve.” Peggy reminds him carefully. “We can go home. Imagine it.” He turns once again and the music stops, everything finally deciding to leave the ballroom empty and abandoned. Bucky stands there, center stage, and raises the gun with unknowing eyes. There is a gun shot.

 

Thor whirls in to the halls of Asgard, decked in revels never seen before. There is something off about the people and their wear and the walls of Asgard – this place, so clearly his home but not as it has ever been. A cloaked figure wanders past, and Thor turns to follow only for Heimdall to stand.

No, not Heimdall. It is him, but it is not. His eyes are a ghostly pure white and his garb is unlike anything the guardian had ever worn. “It is him?” He asks, standing, the Not-Heimdall in the Not-Asgard. “The Odinson, returning to us in our revels?”

“Heimdall, your eyes-” Thor starts, staring at his old friend’s – when were he and Heimdall friends – when was this ever Heimdall – eyes. The stranger grabs at his face, smiling wide.

“Oh, they see everything.” The man continues, holding them there around Thor’s head. “They see you leading us to the gates of Hel.” His voice turns cruel, hands pulling at hair. “Wake up!” He shouts, and begins to choke Thor.

“I can still save you!” Thor grunts, trying desperately to pull Heimdall’s grip off of him. “I can still save Asgard! Give me a chance!”

“We are already dead!” He screams back. Pale, unseeing eyes accusing. “Can you not see it? You are a destroyer, Odinson. You have brought us to the brink of Ragnarok!”

The cloaked figure stands before him, and then there is lightning crashing down. It is a hand holding out a green gem. The partying people begin to crumble in to ash, the lightening shooting off of him and into them. There is a grin.

 

On the coast line, Wanda leans against a broken ship, holding her head and panting heavily. “What can I do?” Her brother asks, kneeling next to her with wide, uncertain hands. There is no response, only a cry of pain. “I am going to kill him. Be right back.”

“No! Wait!” Wanda calls out as Pietro starts to run back across the water. She stands firmly upright, masking the pain under a determined face. “I want to finish the plan.” She casts her eyes around the broken hulls to stare at the parked quinjet, and where Bruce Banner sits patiently, waiting.

 

Overhead, Stark and Ultron race across the skies, firing weapons and ramming in to the various obstacles that dot the sea. Iron Man casts a final shot, knocking the robot in to a rusty hull and stands triumphant.

“Ah, the Vibranium’s getting away.” Ultron notes, casting a quick glance upwards at the other bodies flying off. Stark turns to get a glance, but doesn’t move, only standing there with his hand pointed at the body before him, waiting.

“Yeah, well, you’re not going anywhere.” He says sharply, grinning under the mask. Ultron just laughs, loudly.

“Of course not.” Comes the most patronizing voice possible. “I’m already there. Don’t worry, I’m certain you’ll catch on eventually. But first, you might need to catch Dr. Banner.” Ultron grins and steps forward, only to get shot by the repulsors in to so many pieces.

Iron Man flies up, looking around. This is not good. This is so very, very not good. A loud roar echoes through the area, deafened only by distance, and there is a trail of destruction leading towards the city.

 

The Hulk is coming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ugh this was probably not the best place to end the chapter but who cares
> 
> ultron is kind of the best, you know? i think i'm lowkey in love. i mean: tears guy's arm off - i'm sure that will be fine. and i swear ultron has some of the best lines in the whole movie. 'i think you're confusing peace with quiet.' damn. slay. 
> 
> fight scenes are the worst, but i hope you all enjoyed this chapter and this story and your life, in general.


	6. The Fight Of The Century (And Maybe Even The Millenium)

He runs through the fields towards the city. Everything is green and red and raw like anger, the blood pulsing in his veins. Metal gray cities spire upwards from the dusty scrublands. The sort of cities that hold people. The sort that hold soldiers and guns and BAD BAD BAD.

Iron Man flies over the same ground, searching frantically. The Quinjet has been abandoned, and that means that the girl – or someone, at least – has gotten to Bruce. This is bad. This is very, very bad.

“News or footage: keyword Hulk.” Tony orders in to the suit and quickly enough multiple files come up. They are shaky footage, hand held cameras, but the effect is clear enough. Someone has set the Hulk on the rampage, and he’s attacking the city. “Natasha! Barton!” He calls out over the coms. “We could really use a lullaby!”

“Yeah, not happening.” Clint shoots back. “At least, not for a while. The whole team’s completely out of it and I can’t just leave them.” He replies, carefully sitting next to Natasha, trying to get her attention. “You’re on your own, Stark.”

“Fuck.” Stark mutters under his breath. “I’m calling in VERONICA.” The signal is fast, no, instantaneous, as the signal gets sent out to the satellite waiting overhead. It carefully activates, sending the capsule down from space to earth.

 

In the city, the military begin to pull up in armored trucks. One drives up, carefully approaching where the green giant sits in the city streets crushing a building in to dust. Within a moment the vehicle enters his gaze and he jumps forward, crashing down on to the hood and ripping the roof of. The screams are muffled by everything else crashing down.

The capsules for VERONICA descend, flying side by side as Iron Man rushes through the city to where the reports of the hulk are coming in. The suit quickly and fluidly attaches itself, and the main capsule bursts forward from where the sounds and towers of smoky dust are coming from.

The Hulk rages. The people of the city run away – what else would they do – and the police officers cower behind cars futilely. aiming guns and firing, repeatedly. The Hulk runs forward, knocking over cars and debris in his path, charging towards the guns and the people holding them. He runs forward to where an officer lies on the ground, stunned and backing away in fear.

Suddenly metal begins to fall down from the sky. Pillars surround the Hulk, smashing in to the ground and creating a circle, loosing electricity to stun him and finally encasing him in cold steel. There is a pause of silence, only the muted roars and banging against, doing nothing.

Then, there is a shake. It echoes, knocking people down and pushing cars away. There is another, and the container that held the hulk is crawling down in to the asphalt covered roads. It creaks and groans, and as the police officers step forward the Hulk bursts out of the ground to the side, knocking cars and people from his path. He smashes against a car, crushing the glass against his fists when the officers open fire again. The Hulk turns around, eyes gleaming read with hatred.

There is a crash of breaking rock, and the Hulkbuster lands on the streets of the city. The last of the metal comes in to place, extending over the interior suit. “All right, everybody, stand down!” He shouts out to the police officers, facing down the Hulk on the street. No one moves, shock with fear at the scene.

“You listening?” Stark asks of Banner, staring down the Hulk. “The witch, she’s messed with your mind. You’re stronger than her, smarter than her, you know that? You’re Bruce Banner-“

The Hulk roars loudly, interrupting him. It echoes through the air, and the people on the street pull back, but Tony doesn’t flinch.

“Right, right, right, don’t mention puny Banner.” He mutters, only barely reacting in time to catch the car the Hulk throws at him. He braces himself as the Hulk then runs up, smashing a fist through the car and in to the suit, knocking him down with such force.

Quickly, the suit gets up and blasts forward, flying through the air and picking up the Hulk, slamming him down in to the asphalt and dragging him along. The Hulk reaches his hands up and grabs on to the arm holding him, flipping the Hulkbuster suit over his head and tossing him far away.

They both get up quickly, breath racing, and the Hulk runs forward to jump in to the suit. Stark catches him with an arm, holding him out and tossing him in to an abandoned truck, which spins around with the force, boxes flying everywhere. Carefully, Stark steps forward, looking around the truck.

The Hulk picks up a pole and slams it in to his back, sending the suit flying through the air and towards nearby building. As Stark avoids that, landing with a crash on the ground, the pole is stabbed downwards in to his back.

“Really? In the back?” Stark asks with a slight laugh. “Dick move, Banner.” He can feel the shake as the Hulk slams in to him, trying to destroy the suit and tear him out of it. It’s definitely doing some damage, but not enough that a well timed punch doesn’t send the Hulk flying backwards in to the middle of a not quite yet abandoned marketplace.

He slams in to the car but gets up anyway. The suit is damaged, and the left arm has stopped working with the metal pole jammed in to it. “VERONICA, gimme a hand.” Tony asks, and the capsule comes flying upwards, sending metal pods towards him while Bruce runs rampant through the streets, knocking people and stands out of his way. The suit releases the damaged arm and the pods swiftly replace it.

The Hulk comes barreling for him, and Tony fires out a laser from the hand that isn’t being repaired. It causes the Hulk to pause, briefly, but it isn’t enough to even stop him in his path. The green giant swings his hand forward in a punch, and Iron Man pivots his newly rebuilt hand to meet it.

There is a large crashing sound and a shockwave that echoes through the city, smashing glass windows upon impact. Tony looks up, trying to identify if anyone has been hurt, but then the Hulk is there right in his face. Quickly he slams Banner in to the ground, and starts the suit’s arm to rapidly punch him in to the already ruined road.

“Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep!” He repeats with each punch. “Come on-” The Hulk reaches up, grabbing the hand slamming in to him and growling, fingers crushing the metal hand. Stark flicks his eyes and the hand retracts, the arm latching on to the Hulk and not letting go. “Okay, pal, we’re going  to get you out of town.”

 

He flies up in to the sky, Banner struggling to get out of his grip as they climb higher and higher, reaching the tops of the tall buildings. But the suit is damaged, and the Hulk is kicking, and they go off center. “No, no, no, not that way!” Stark yells out as they go crashing in towards an office building. They fly in, shattering the windows, landing on some large, empty central space. “Ah, fuck – Come on, Bruce. You’ve got to work with me!”

There is no reply, only a roar as the Hulk once again jumps forward, punching and kicking the suit. Tony manages to pin him up against a wall but it’s still doing nothing, only holding him back from hurting more people. The door of an elevator full of people open up on the scene, and the Hulk kicks the suit back in to it, throwing the elevator in to free fall.

It takes only a moment for Stark to turn around, ignoring the fight to grab at the elevator cord and save these people from certain death. He pulls forward, flying, and slowly lowers the broken elevator down to right above the floor. “Everybody get out! This is going to get ugly!” He screams down at them through the suit, and as the last person does the Hulk leaps out the new hole and on to his back. Stark flips him over, sending him crashing in to the stairs below.

Then, with a massive blow, he yanks the empty elevator and uses it as a mace, slamming it in to the Hulk’s back. As the green giant starts to get up, Stark blasts forward and punches him in the face, sending him back down to the stairway.

The Hulk turns to look up at him, eyes still red with magic and rage. He spits out what might be blood or might be just spit, and Stark takes a step back, cautiously. “Sorry.” He mouths, and then in an instant the suit is flying backwards with a slamming punch.

They fly upwards, fighting, Banner repeatedly hitting and tearing while it’s all Stark can do to keep the suit afloat. Pieces of metal are pulled off carelessly and cast downwards as they go higher and higher, smoke trailing in their wake. “Damage report.” Stark asks of the suit, only getting an electric buzz in reply. “Well, that was fucking informative. Give me something. Anything.”

 

VERONICA knocks the Hulk off of his back and in to his hands, right as a skyscraper in construction shows up center view. It’s perfect. All of that heavy metal is sure to do something, at least, and there won’t be anyone inside. Probably. “Scan it.“ He mutters, and the signs confirm what he’d thought. “How quickly can we buy this building?” 

Within an instant there’s another display on his screen and he flies above his brand new building and lets the Hulk fall downwards, and then turns around slamming in to him, pushing him faster and faster. The skyscraper crashes down as they fall through floor after floor, everything exploding in to rubble and dust in an instant.

There are so many people running away from the scene, covering their mouths with cloth to try and escape the clouds of dust billowing out from the wreckage. The army trucks come barreling in, soldiers with guns jumping out to examine the ruins slowly coming in to view. The Hulk pulls himself up from beneath the rubble, squinting in the sunlight at all of the people coughing and running, the loud noise of chaos around him. His face looks sad, for a moment, so sad. Then he catches the guns and the soldiers aiming them, and rage floods back.

There isn’t a slamming punch. There’s an open suit, a coughing man pulling himself out of the rubble, a touch of skin. The Hulk falls backwards, collapsing, red turning to green turning to red again, albeit pink. The Hulk shrivels up amongst the dust of the fallen building, and Tony flips his middle finger at all the soldiers with guns still aimed and pulls his friend out of the rubble and in to the sky, carefully. Gently.

 

Clint has managed, somehow, to herd the Avengers back to the Quinjet. They sit with shallow eyes, and it is impossible to tell if they are still in the dreams, or just reliving them again and again of their own memory. Tony sets Bruce down on the seats, and collapses himself, bandaging up the wounds even VERONICA couldn’t fully heal him from. There’s a slight exchange of glances, and Clint pulls out in to the sky.

It takes an hour for everyone to be fully awake, though they aren’t all fully there, mostly just pacing steps and empty stares. Clint is still at the wheel – he’s been flying there straight, no breaks or autopilots, and Tony sits dejected listening to Hill’s report on the mess.

“The news is loving you guys.” She says, voice laced with sarcasm. “No one else is. There’s been no official call for Banner’s arrest, but it’s in the air.”

“The Stark Relief Foundation?”  Tony asks, voice quiet and kind of hoarse.

“Already on the scene.” Hill replies quickly. “And the team?”

Tony looks to stare at where everyone is seated. “Everyone’s – we took a hit. We’ll shake it off. It’s what we do.”

Though it’s hard to tell over the small screen, Maria Hill does not appear to be buying that. She doesn’t say anything however, only nods. “Well for now, I’d stay in stealth mode, and stay away from here.” She notes.  “Until we have more until, that’s all I can give you.”

“So run and hide?” Tony asks, and Maria shrugs back. Tony sighs and lets the screen flicker off, staring at the empty blackness and the controls for a few minutes before restlessly walking up to where Clint is. “Hey, you want to switch out?” He asks, leaning on the pilot’s chair.

“No, I’m good.”  Clint says, and his voice is as dull as everyone elses. His eyes are focused but empty, as if the hit on the team has hit him too. In a way, it has. “If you wanna get some snacks, now’s a good time. We’re still a few hours out.”

“From where?” Tony asks, trying to get a lay on their location from the controls. It’s no good.

“A safe house.” Clint says, and he leaves it at that.

 

The Quinjet sets down with a rustling sound in an empty looking field surrounded by trees. The only thing to be seen is a quaint looking farm house. It’s still dark, but it’s not that dark, and there are a few faint lights on in the house. The Avengers all walk up with slow, hesitant steps, save Clint who walks with Natasha’s arm around his shoulders and who strides up to the door.

“Katie-Kate, I’m home!” He calls out, cheerfully, his eyes and his face finally regaining some color. Natasha looks better too, though less so. Wherever and whatever this place is, it’s definitely cherished.

A young looking girl opens the door to stare at them. Her dark hair is tied up in a ponytail, she is wearing a tee and soft looking lounge pants, and her eyes look very tired, as if she had just woken up. She casts her gaze over Clint and Natasha and the tired Avengers, damaged physically and mentally.

Then, with a resounding thud, she slams the door back closed in their faces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ugh fight scenes.
> 
> i wasn't expecting to actually introduce kate this chapter but hey what do you know. queenboudica, this is for you. also, love the name. kate is just the best. my entire reason to write this tbh was the fact that i wanted kate bishop chilling on the farm because she is the best. like, the best. sadly, she'll only be in the farm scenes, because anything else would be weird.
> 
> anyways hope you loved reading this as much as i loved writing this. scratch that, i hated writing everything but the end. i hope you enjoyed this as much as that. yeah, that sounds good.


	7. Kate Bishop Is Better Than You And You Know It

The farmhouse is kind of plain and rustic, it’s furnishings not quite matching anything but giving it a sort of charming style. Clint marches in through the open door, hands raised in apology. “Come on, Katie, don’t be like that. If I could have called ahead, I would have and you know it.” The girl doesn’t respond, only slams something around in the kitchen. She seems kind of angry. “Come on, Tasha, back me up on this, will you?” 

Natasha just shrugs, sitting herself down on the couch and letting the soft cushions surround her. She looks more at home than she’s ever been in the tower, and her position makes her look vaguely like a cat. The Avengers stand around awkwardly, looking at the scene.

“I get it.” Tony says, eyes widening. “Oh my god. You two had an offspring, didn’t you? This is your spawn. I think I’m terrified now.” Clint laughs at that, keeling over and holding on to a chair to keep himself from falling over. Kate just rolls her eyes, letting hot water poor in to the coffee machine.

“As if.” Kate mutters, tapping her foot impatiently for the coffee. “There is no way in the world I could be related to anyone so annoying and slow as Barton here.” Clint has regained himself, and he mocks offense at these words. “No, I’m just their housekeeper. Nice to meet you all. You are the Avengers, right?” She gives them a look over, and crosses her arms, coffee cup in hand.

Before there is a reply, Clint looks up with a grin at the sound of feet on wood. “Ah, we got incoming!” He exclaims cheerfully, and a small pack of dogs comes hurtling in to the room, knocking the archer to the ground. He sits there hugging and petting them with a huge smile.

“Liho’s in his hiding spot if you want to go looking for him, Nat.” Kate adds in. “Now have the grand and might Avengers eaten already, or am I expected to whip up some food?”

“We’re really sorry to barge in on you.” Steve says, wringing his hands tightly. There are dancers on the edges of his vision, fleeting people with accusing eyes. He doesn’t recognize any of them.

“Yeah, we would have called ahead, but we were too busy having no idea you existed.” Tony quips. His voice isn’t fully in it, however. “Wait wait wait a minute – I know you! You’re the Bishop girl! The missing one!”

“Guilty as charged.” Kate replies with a shrug. “I didn’t expect Tony Stark to keep up on all of that upper class gossip.” She moves in to the kitchen, and starts prepping the toaster with some food.

“Yeah, well your Dad seemed to think I was behind it for some reason. Don’t know why.” Tony replies, staring around the house. This place is – well it’s quaint to put it bluntly. Definitely not where you’d expect a missing heiress to be hiding, and definitely not what you’d expect from the safe house of the world’s two most dangerous spies.

 

Bruce sits down on the couch next to Natasha, still silent and pulled in to his own mind, but he seems calmer, if only barely. Thor however stands stiffly, amongst the house, and he walks forward carefully. The toaster dings and with it he can see the echoes of false Asgard swirling around him. 

He looks down towards the ground where one of Barton’s dogs has approached him. It flicks in and out, replaced by similar animals that ran amuck through Asgard, and then he can see something – a stone. A familiar set of stones.

With a whoosh of his cape, the Asgardian storms out of the house and in to the field. He lifts Mjolnir, ready to fly up, but Steve follows after him, his face full of questions.

“Thor.” Steve starts, eyes not accusing but questioning.

“I saw something in that dream. I need answers. I won’t find them here.” He states simply, before swinging his hammer, pulling himself up in to the sky. Steve lingers for a moment, watching Thor leave before turning to head back inside, where Tony lies collapsed on the floor amongst the dogs, and Clint stands in the kitchen laughing with the girl who isn’t his daughter.

 

“I can’t believe you got shot in the side.” Kate deadpans, staring at the patch of skin. “It’s really fake, huh. They’re slowly turning you in to a robot. I bet that’s just what Iron Man wants.” 

“Ah, come on Katie, you have to admit it’s pretty cool.” Clint replies, letting his shirt fall back down. “I mean, it’s revolutionary technology. Plus, the heal time is amazing. It took like an hour and bam, better than ever. Literally. I’m pretty sure the super skin is better than my original stuff.”

Kate quickly jabs him in the side with her hand, causing Barton to keel over. Steve winces and carefully kneels down to where the dogs are swarming Stark, but Natasha doesn’t even look up from where she’s curled up on the couch – next to Bruce – with her cat.

“Yeah, I’m not buying the ‘better’ bit.” Kate remarks. “You’re just as weak as always, Hawkeye. But seriously – do we even have enough rooms for everyone? I’m pretty sure someone’ll have to double up, even with your Asgardian friend out of the way. “

Clint pauses, thinking those words over. “Imagine forcing Cap and Stark to share a room. That would be hilarious.” He comments, letting the thought simmer for a few moments. “It’ll either end up in their getting together or declaring war, I’m not certain.” Kate rolls her eyes.

“This is my house and I would like it to stay intact.” She tells him sternly. “Oooh, what about Nat and Mr. I-turn-in-to-the-Hulk? What’s with the pseudo-snuggling and has she been hiding a relationship from me? Or do I just need to set it up. . .”

“This is my house, Kate, and I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Clint replies, averting his eyes. “You had better not say anything of the sort. Nat’s like, she’s like fifteen. You’re like five. I don’t need to deal with you two doing kissy faces.”

“Clint, Nat’s thirty years old.” Kate replies, staring right at him. “I know you’ve been like best friends forever since then, but you realize she’s an adult? And that I’m an adult? And that this is my house and Natasha is making smoochy faces with the Hulk?”

“Lalalalala, I can’t hear you!” Clint shouts back, sticking his fingers in his ears and walking out of the kitchen. He nearly trips over the dogs, but manages to regain himself just in time to not wake Tony from the floor or Steve from his seat leaning up next to the couch. The only ones still awake seem to be Natasha, though she’s drifting, and the two of them.

“Look at this mess.” Kate mutters, surveying the room and the exhausted Avengers. “So these are the world’s best superheroes. Lying asleep on the floor of the house that is totally mine and no one else’s. I’m not cleaning up any messes you guys make, you hear me! All of your friends may be superheroes, but I bet I could beat all of them up with a hand behind my back.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Hawkeye. You could do it with both hands behind your back.” Clint replies, leaning against the wall. “Fuck. I don’t even know what I’m doing on this team. I mean, a flying metal suit, a god, a monster, and Captain Freaking America? They don’t need me.”

“Ugh, don’t get so dramatic on me, Barton.” Kate whines. “We’re going to need to kick the dogs out and drag these morons to bed, so no more of this whining. If you really want some encouragement I can tell you about how you’re not a loser, but you are. That hasn’t stopped you before.”

Clint laughs at that, and stands to survey the room with her. “Well, that’s true enough. Tell me, Katie-Kate, do you have any smart ideas on how to get Captain America up these stairs?”

 

In Seoul it’s almost nine in the morning, and the sun is shining brightly down. Helen Cho walks past her employees and coworkers in to the room where the casket lays. It’s dark, but that just means no one has started to run the diagnostics yet. She enters, opening and closing the door, and as she moves to turn on the lights she sees something in the shadows.

“You’re late, Dr. Cho.” Comes the mechanical voice. She recognizes it, just barely, and takes a step back, turning around. “Scream, and your entire staff dies. We wouldn’t want that, now would we?” The scientist doesn’t respond, just stands stock still, waiting.  “I could’ve killed you, Helen, the night we met. I didn’t.”

“Do you expect a thank you note?” She mutters back, and then pauses, surprised at her own bravery. Ultron laughs and leans backwards, almost seeming casual.

“No, Helen, but I expect you to know why.” Comes the reply, and Cho freezes. Her eyes fall to the cradle that sits between them.

“The cradle.” She mutters, eyes wide in fear. “But-“ She’s cut off as Ultron plays a recording, her own voice speaking back to her. “This is the next thing, Tony.”

“This . . . is the next me.” Ultron tells her, leaning towards her and staring her down.

“The regeneration cradle prints tissue.” Cho states, staring back, only slightly wavering. Her hands are clenched in to fists by her side, fingernails digging in to the flesh of her palms, but she stands there, not cowering before him. “It can’t build you a living body.”

“You’re a brilliant woman, Helen.” Ultron replies, walking over to her desk. “It can, and you can, given the right materials.” The robot picks up the framed photo that is sitting there, the smiling picture of Amadeus and Maddy. “You just need the right motivation.”

The picture falls to the floor with a smash, the glass shattering across the floor. A few pieces nick her in the legs, and Cho is pretty sure that her palms are near bloody, but she doesn’t even flinch. She matches the robot’s eyes unwavering.

Ultron grins.

 

Natasha lies on the soft bed, the one unofficially claimed for herself in the farmhouse. There are images dancing in the corners of her eyes, of ballerinas and knives and corpses, and shutting her eyes just barely makes them go away. The house is quieter than it should be, only the sound of the shower running to keep off the loud buzz of silence.

Bruce sits in the shower, letting the water fall over him, trying desperately to scrub off the green and the red on his skin that he isn’t certain is even there. His eyes are stinging and the dirt rushes down mixed with water, pooling and draining away. His skin starts to become soft again, no longer caked in the dirt and dust and sweat. He still doesn’t feel clean.

The shower’s water starts to grow cold and he quickly turns it off, standing there for a few moments, letting the remaining water on his skin drip down. In the absence of the water the silence echoes, only the faint creaking and buzz of the house remaining. It takes him a few more moments to move again.

On the bed Natasha sits up, crosslegged, and holds her head in her hands. Her fingers pinch at her nose, squeezing her eyes shut and just barely drawing her back to reality. The silence has led to faint echoes of people she used to know whispering throughout her head, and she does her best to ignore them.

Bruce stands before the mirror, mostly dry and towel clad. He leans forward, trying to keep his hand steady as he starts shaving. It’s a routine process, only barely thrown off by the unfamiliar place, but there is the monster’s face in the mirror for a few seconds and his hand slips. There’s a small cut on his cheek, invisible for a few moments before it starts to drip red. Bruce doesn’t move to clean it up, just stands there and watch the slow moving stream of blood fall down his cheek, until the cut slowly heals itself before him in the mirror. He continues to shave.

When he finally comes out of the bathroom, Bruce sees Natasha, sitting on the bed, staring at nothing in particular. In an instant nothing switches to him, and Bruce blushes, slightly, holding on to the towel that is wrapped around his race. Natasha doesn’t blush, but her lips turn the slightest bit upwards.

“I, uh, I didn’t realize you were in here.” He starts, voice fumbling. “Did you need the shower? I’m sorry, I think the hot water’s all used up. . .” His words are discordant, none of them quite going how he planned.

“No, I already took one.” Natasha replies back. “A shower.” There’s a pause there, for a few seconds, but neither looks away. “I was waiting for you.” Natasha finally says. Her hands are fiddling with the hem of the lounge pants that she’d changed in to after peeling off her costume.

“I didn’t think you would. Wait for me.” Bruce replies awkwardly. He’s still standing in the doorway, and he squirms ever so slightly, biting at the inside of his cheek and flicking his eyes away from how her loose shirt falls over her chest. Failing.

“Of course I would.” Natasha replies, and there’s a layer of emotion deep underneath her words. “I would always wait for you. Why would you even think otherwise?”

“The world just saw the Hulk, the real Hulk, for the first time.” He mutters, stepping forward and out of the doorway, turning towards the window that isn’t letting in much of the light in from the overhead sun. “The Avengers saw it too.” He stares out the window, looking at the treeline and the cloudy blue sky.

“You don’t have to leave.” Natasha says, shifting off of the bed. “Even, even after what happened. The Avengers will still accept you. You know that.”

“The world won’t.” Bruce replies, voice growing softer. “I’m a monster. I’ve hurt and killed so many innocent people. Natasha. No one will accept a monster on the Avengers. I’m what they were created to fight.”

“If the world wants a monster, they can look to me.” Natasha says back, voice stern. She places her hand gently on his arm, and Bruce turns to look her in the eye. “If we go by how many innocents have been hurt and killed, I beat you on that. I’m the bigger monster.” Her words are given straight, with a deadpan, but the pain still slips out through gritted teeth.

“That’s not what I–" Bruce starts, but stops, pauses. “You’re not a monster, Natasha. You’re more than what they made you. You’re a hero and you know it.” His words are so honest, and he pulls her hand off of his arm to hold it between his own.

“Then you aren’t a monster either.” Natasha murmers, and she leans in, pauses for a moment, and then kisses him. It’s slow and gentle and all consuming, letting the nightmares in the corners of their visions finally disappear, but then Bruce stops, pauses, and Natasha stops too. “If you don’t want to do this. . .”

“No! No, I-“ Bruce mumbles, wringing his hands. “I like this. I like you, Natasha, it’s just-“ He pauses again, lets the words hang in the air. “I can’t give you everything you want, Natasha. You deserve so much more, I mean, I can’t give you kids, or, or. . .”

“Who says I want any of that?” Natasha questions him, smile twinkling in her eyes. “Because I don’t. I’m fine with just what we have here, the two of us, right now. I don’t need anything else.” Bruce look her in the eye, at the kindness she’s just exuding like never before.

“But I, I think I might.” He whispers, and leans against the wall, slowly dropping to the floor.  “I think I might.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahaha this was such a happy chapter in such a happy fic hahahahaha
> 
> ignoring that, i hoped you liked the chapter. this is the section that's most heavily rewritten, but it was a lot of fun, and i feel pretty good about the brucenat bits. plus, you can never go wrong with kate bishop. 
> 
> i changed the fic title from version 2.0 to ultron: extinction. it went from lame to slightly less lame so i think it's a win how about you guys?
> 
> the alt title for this chapter was: In Which We Meet The World's Greatest Hawkeye


	8. This Chapter Is 35% Angst, 40% Nick Fury, 15% Thor, And 10% Kate Bishop

Steve is the first of all of them to wake up, which only makes sense for the supersoldier who regularly woke up at ridiculous hours. It was late for him though as he walked downstairs in a way too tight t-shirt and only slightly too tight pants, not looking nearly as disheveled as someone who just woke up should be.

Kate stared at him for a few moments, as realization slowly filtered in that the Avengers were staying with her. “Oh, uh, Captain, I didn’t think any of you would be awake so early.” She muttered. It was eight in the morning, which wasn’t unreasonably early, but it was for a bunch of exhausted people who had gone to sleep at midnight.

“I hope I’m not intruding.” Steve said, his voice surprisingly soft. “Do you need any help in cooking breakfast?”

Oh, right. Five incredibly hungry superpowered guests who were bound to eat a lot. Kate bent down to examine what was sitting in the fridge, and then turned back to Steve. “Uh, you could help by checking the chicken coop for eggs?” She tells him, and Steve smiles before walking out of the house, only to return shortly with a basket full of eggs and no sign of anything broken.

It’s after he’s picked all of the ripe vegetables in the garden that Kate only sometimes remembers exists and after he’s actually freaking milked the cow – the cow that refuses to be milked that Kate is certain hates everyone – that Kate sends him out chopping wood from the fallen trees on the edge of the clearing while she continues to figure out how to cook breakfast.

And then of course when Stark comes down, he doesn’t even bother asking to help. He takes one glance at Kate and Clint in the kitchen and walks straight outside to help Steve with the firewood. Something that he totally does not need to do. At all.

 

“Thor didn’t say where he was going for answers?” Tony asks eventually, annoyed by the silence, as he slams an axe down through a chunk of wood, splitting it. Though he doesn’t look it, he’s actually kind of strong.

“Yeah, sometimes my teammates don’t tell me things. I was kind of hoping Thor would be the exception.” Steve replies.

“Yeah, give him some time.” Tony mutters. “We don’t know what the Maximoff kid showed him.” Steve

“Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.” Steve scoffs, looking up at the sky. “They pulled us apart like cotton candy.”

“Seems like you walked away all right.” Tony replies harshly. He lets his axe slam down in to the wood again.

“Is that a problem?” Steve asks him, setting his axe to the side to face Tony.

“I don’t trust a guy without a dark side.” Tony replies, dropping his axe as well and staring at Steve. “I don’t think you have one.”

“A dark side? You can’t be serious.” Steve scoffs. “This isn’t about how evil we are, this is about our nightmares. Don’t you dare think anything different.”

Tony backs off, turns back to the work, and Steve does the same. After a few moments of tense silence, he turns to Steve again. “Ultron is trying to tear us apart. I think he’s doing a good job of it.”

“Well you’d know, wouldn’t you?” Steve shoots back, angry, taking the wood he was holding in his hands and ripping it apart. He stands there, breathing heavily for a few seconds, and lets the pieces drop.  “I’m sorry. You’re right, he’s trying to make us fight each other, and I should be better than this. It’s just – we all took a hit. I don’t think any of us are handling it that well.”

Tony is silent again. “We thought we were doing the right thing, with Ultron.” He says, sharper than he’d intended. More honest, too. “I thought that maybe, maybe, we could do it, that we could end the fight. I don’t know how it went so wrong.”

“Every time someone tries to win a war before it starts, innocent people die.” Steve tells him. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

 

Then the door to the house falls open and Kate marches out. For a fourteen or so year old girl, she has an incredible presence. 

“You.” She says, pointing towards Stark. “Are being completely useless. Stop it with whatever you were arguing and being sad about. I have enough to deal with Liho and Clint and Natasha, I don’t need any of your stupid superhero drama.”

“Uh, I’m sorry ma’am?” Steve tries, looking very awkward. Kate does a double step, like any teenager would at being called ma’am by Captain America. She just shakes her head and continues on.

“You, Stark, are going to leave Steve to the woodchopping.” Kate commands. “Go and feed Jiji, she’s in the barn.” She turns back inside with a sigh, obviously already fed up with these annoying superheroes.

“Uh, okay.” Tony mutters. “What’s a Jiji?” He mutters, starting to walk away, then, he turns back towards Steve with a smirk. “Don’t you dare steal from my pile Rogers!” He calls out, and Steve raises a dubious eyebrow at the rather small pile of chopped wood behind his veritable mountain.

 

The barn looks ratty, not quite like it’s about to fall down, but it’s definitely far from new. At least it’s easy enough to find, but when he walks in from the bright mid-morning sun in to the dark of the windowless barn. Some light filters in through the walls, but it isn’t much.

As he blinks, trying to adjust to the low light, there is a giant almost roaring sound. There is an elephant sitting in one of the stalls, which tilts it’s head at him. “Ah, so that’s what a Jiji is.” Tony murmers, walking towards it. Then, a peanut comes flying out of nowhere, and the elephant quickly grabs it with it’s trunk.

He turns around and there, in plain view, sits Nick Fury. He’s perched on some of the bales of hay, bag of peanuts in his hand, tossing them underhand towards Jiji. “Took you long enough.” He comments, staring down.

After a moment of shock, Stark finally manages to speak. “Of course you’re not dead.” He mutters. “Let me guess, Coulson’s alive too?” Fury chuckles at that. “Maria Hill called you, didn’t she? Was she ever not working for you?”

“Maria Hill works for whoever she darn well pleases.” Fury comments, standing up. “I guess she just likes me more than you.” Tony scoffs at that, but Fury continues to walk forwards, hands in pockets. “Artificial Intelligence, Tony. You didn’t even hesitate.”

“Look, I don’t have to deal with this, so why don’t we skip to where you’re useful?” Tony snarks at him, but Fury keeps the calm face.

“Look me in the eye and tell me you’re going to shut him down.” Fury says calmly, staring at him directly. Tony looks away.

“You’re not the director of me.” He mutters, facing the elephant instead. “I don’t have to listen to anything you say.”

“I’m not the director of anyone.” Fury admits. “I’m just a tired old man, who cares very much about you, who’s worried about you, Tony.”

“Well who asked you to?” Tony shouts back. It rings through the barn for a few moments.“I’m the man who killed the Avengers.” He says, voice hoarse. “I saw it. I didn’t tell the team – how could I? I saw them all dead, Nick. I felt it. They’re all dead because of me. I wasn’t ready. I should have been able to stop it –“ He leans forward against the edge of the stall, blinking back tears from his eyes. Fury doesn’t move.

“The Maximoff girl, she’s working you, Tony.” He says, calmly. “Playing on your nightmares and your fears. None of that has happened. Your friends are still alive.”

“I wasn’t tricked, Nick!” Tony shouts out, pivoting around. “I was shown. It wasn’t some nightmare, it was my legacy. The end of the path that _I_ started all of us on.”

“You’ve come up with some pretty impressive inventions, Tony, but War isn’t one of them.” Fury comments.

“I watched my friends die, Nick, begging for help. Begging for me to save them.” Tony says, voice wavering. He’s stopped holding back the tears, and a few inch down his face, wracked with pain. “You’d think that would be the worse to fit right? The most horrible thing to see? Nope. Wasn’t even close.” He laughs at that, darkly.

“I know.” Fury tells him, softly, stepping forward to place a hand on his shoulder. His face is surprisingly sympathetic given how harsh he normally seems. “The worst part is that you didn’t.”

 

In London, Thor stands, waiting, outside of the University where Selvig works. He’s dressed all in black, a hoodie and dark coat, and watches as people poor out of the front door, searching the crowd. Erik Selvig walks out slowly.

“You know, if you’re going for inconspicuous, you’ve failed.” He comments, walking up to where Thor stands. “But I like the look.”

“I need your help.” Thor says quickly, walking swiftly behind him towards Erik’s car.

“Why aren’t you asking Jane?” Selvig asks, standing next to his car. “Not that I’m not happy to help.”

Thor stares at him for a few moments. His eyes are blank, and the Asgardian is unusually quiet. There is definitely something gone wrong here. “It is dangerous.” He finally says.

Erik sighs, opening up the door. “Of course it is. I’d be surprised if it wasn’t.” He climbs in to the car, and opens the side door for Thor to get in as well. “So, where are we headed?”

 

Fury sits at the table, eating  toast with jam. It’s surprisingly normal, and surprisingly un-Fury-like, but no one has commented on it yet. Natasha is also sitting at the table, eating an omelet she had made for herself, and everyone else is in various positions around the room, leaning against walls or sitting on the backs of couches. 

“Ultron took you folks out to play to buy himself time.” Fury says between bites. “My contacts all say he’s been building something with all the vibranium he made off with. I don’t think it’s just one thing.”

“And Ultron himself?” Steve asks, looking up.

“Ah. He’s easy enough to track – the guy’s everywhere.” Fury notes. “Doesn’t help us get an angle on any of his plans though.”

“He’s still after launch codes?” Tony asks, crossing the room to pick up some darts that lie near a dart board. He tosses one experimentally.

“Yes he is, but he’s not making any headway.” Fury informs them.

“Really?” Tony questions. “I cracked the pentagon’s firewall in highschool on a _dare_. Ultron’s literally inside the internet. That should be a piece of cake.”

“Yeah, well, I contacted our friends at the NEXUS about that.” Fury mutters.

“NEXUS?” Steve questions.

“Ooh! I know this one!” Kate calls out, sitting up from her position lying down on the couch. “That’s the world internet hub in Oslo. All of the internet flows through there. It has the fastest internet connection on the planet.”

Clint pushes her back down with a half grin. “So, what did NEXUS say?”

“Ultron’s fixated on the missles, but the codes are constantly being changed.” Fury notes.

“Who by?” Natasha asks.

“Parties unknown.”  Fury grimaces.

“Do we have an ally?” Tony asks, pulling his darts out of the target board. One whizzes by his face, hitting the bullseye and Kate grins from her spot on the couch. Clint leans backwards to a ridiculous angle and throws another one that lands right next to it. Tony backs up.

“Ultron has an enemy. Not the same thing.” Fury corrects. “Still, I’d pay folding money to know who it is.”

“I might need to visit Oslo. Find our ‘parties unknown’.” Tony comments.

“Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping you had more than that.” Natasha comments, standing up to clean her plate.

“I do.” Fury replies with a shit eating grin. “I have you. Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else. Here we all are, back on earth, with nothing but our wit and our will to save the world. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard.”

“Ooh, Steve doesn’t like that kind of talk,” Natasha says with a slight laugh, and Steve steps forward.

“You know what, Romanoff,” He starts, but he can’t even manage to fake being threatening. Natasha throws a smile his way.

“So,” Fury says with a smile. “What does Ultron want?”

“To become better.” Steve comments. “Better than us. He keeps building bodies, keeps improving on them.”

“Person bodies.’ Tony adds in. “Why person bodies? He could go with so many other designs, but he keeps coming back to this.”

“You know, when you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed.” Clint comments, throwing another dart.

“They human race doesn’t need to be protected.” Bruce mutters, staring down at the floor. He’d been quiet the entire time, but now he broke that silence. “They need to evolve. Ultron’s trying to evolve!”

Fury turns to him. “How?” He asks, eyes sparkling.

Bruce looked around the room, eyes wide. “Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?”

 

The casket opens up. The rough outline of a human form is visible, being knitted together by green light. Helen Cho stares at her screens in amazement, the scientific discovery distracting her from the fear. “This is amazing. The vibranium atoms aren’t just compatible with the tissue cells, they’re binding them. And SHIELD never thought . . .”

Ultron laughs at the idea. “The most versatile substance on the planet and they used it to make a Frisbee.” The robot commented, staring down at the casket. “Typical of humans, They scratch the surface but rarely think to look within.

A second body crushes down against the gem of Loki’s scepter, and a yellow crystal falls out. Carefully, it is placed on the forehead of the body slowly knitting itself together. Ultron taps it in to place, looks at the masterpiece beneath him, and grins.

 

Steve pulls on the gloves of his suit, and places the shield where it is held magnetically on to his back. “I’ll take Natasha and Clint.” He comments, turning towards Tony. 

“Alright, strictly recon.” Tony replies with a nod. “I’ll hit the NEXUS with Bruce, I’ll join you there as soon as I can.”

“If Ultron is really building a body with vibranium,” Steve comments, letting the comment drag out.

“It’ll be something. An android designed by a robot. Can you even imagine?” Tony asks, and scared as he is, there are stars in his eyes.

Steve sighs heavily. “I miss the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was me.”

Fury walks up to them, pulling a jacket on. “I’ll be headed back to the tower. I need to talk with Hill about some stuff. Might be important.”

“Well, the door should be open.” Tony comments. “What are you gonna do?”

“I don’t know.” Fury says with a shrug. “Something dramatic, I hope.”

 

Clint is digging around through his various stores of arrows, searching. “Oh, come on, Boomerang arrow. I know you’re here somewhere.” He mutters.

“Really?” Kate questions, staring down at where he’s searching under the couch. “You think you’ll need to use that? When has it ever been useful?”

“Hey, don’t diss the boomerang arrow, Katie.” Clint mutters, standing up. With a sigh, Kate walks over to the shelf where all the arrows are stored and pulls the boomerang arrow out of it’s proper spot. She hands it over to Clint, who huffs in disapproval.

“Don’t you dare die on me, Hawkeye.” Kate comments. “I’m not sure Lucky would be able to handle that, and you know that dog means the world to me.” Clint laughs at that, and scoops her up in to a bear hug. Kate pushes at him for a few moments, and then just accepts it.

As soon as Clint releases her, he grabs his final arrows and pulls down against his fancy new coat. “Please, Hawkeye.” He says with a grin. “It’s just the robot apocalypse? How hard can it be?”

She leans against the porch railing with a sigh as two quinjets fly off. No, it was silly. She had nothing to be worried about.

 

Tony arrives at Oslo and quickly gets let in to the Hub. Being Tony Stark and having Shield clearance is helpful, some of the time. The lab techs stand in awe, and Bruce stands awkwardly, as Tony searches through the computer.

“A hacker who’s faster than Ultron, they could be anywhere.” Tony starts, his voice dramatic. “And this is the center of everything. I’m just a guy looking for a needle in a haystack.”

“How do you find it?” The technician asks, while she stares at the code Tony is typing out quickly. Behind them one of her colleague poses for a selfie.

“It’s surprisingly simple, really. You bring a magnet.” He smirks, staring intensely at the computer. “Come on, I’m decrypting nuclear codes, and you don’t want me to. Come and get me!” He says in a sing song voice.

 

Selvig holds a flashlight, which shines over the walls of the cave. It was difficult to find, and difficult to get this far, but now they’ve reached some makeshift stairs that descend towards the pool. 

“This is it then?” He asks, staring at the murky water. “The Waters of Sight?”

“In every realm, there’s a reflection.” Thor mutters, pulling his shirt off as Selvig empties his bag to light the incense and candles for the ritual. “If the water spirits accept me, I can return to my dream, see what I missed.”

“You know, those who enter that water. . . most of the legends don’t end well.” Selvig says, and Thor just turns and grins widely at him., beginning the words for the enchantment, and then stepping deep in to the pool.

Selvig waits on the edge as Thor closes his eyes, letting the vision come back to him. Yes, he sees the false Asgard, the warning – the lightening from his dream comes crashing down in to the pool and Erik backs up, keeping his eyes on Thor, breathless.

“Odinson!” Not-Heimdall calls out. “You have lead to our destruction! You have lead to the awakening of the mad titan! There is a flash, purple, six gemstones that he has seen before and never seen. One lies in the tesseract, one lost to time, one that had been in his fair  lady Jane, two he had not seen, and one – in the scepter of Loki.

They crack open and he reaches for one, reaches for the golden stone, the mind stone – and the vision changes. Becomes new. There is metal and dust and a city rising, crashing, Ultron admist the destruction.

“Extinction.” Ultron says, slowly, and everything is being destroyed. No, this is not going to happen. They can destroy Ultron, save Midgard, but how?

And as the lightening dies and the Asgardian stumbles, choking out of the Waters, candles blinking out by unknown power, his eyes are clear. The god of thunder has a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> when they say the name of the thing in the thing and you're like aaaaaaa  
> (also, yes, this counts for the description too. i bet you didn't realize hawkeye meant kate. i fooled you all)
> 
> this was a surprisingly long chapter. i both really want to write the next one (yay the maximoffs join the team + break ultron's heart) but on the other hand ughhhh fight scenesssss and that's not even mentioning the four chapters worth of sokovia fight scenes i'll have to do after that. i hate fight scenes so much. but i'll do them. somehow.
> 
> hope you all enjoyed this! i've enjoyed seeing that you've enjoyed this story if that makes any sense at all.


	9. Dr. Cho's Lab Get's Redecorated Rather Poorly (It's Quite Trash, To be Honest)

In Dr. Cho’s Lab, the new Ultron body nears completion. It is not finished, not yet, but it is close. “Cellular cohesion will be finished in a few hours.” She reports, clicking over the screens. At Ultron’s impatient glance, she gulps and smiles. “But we can initiate the consciousness stream now.” She walked over and hooked up the cords to the back of the robot’s head, and tapped on a few buttons. “We’re uploading your cerebral matrix now.”

Wanda stares down at the cloudy figure in the casket, with curiosity. Suddenly, she picks up another mind in the room, and starts to slowly delve in to it. Within a moment she has realized who it is – it’s this new body of Ultron’s. “I can read you now.” She says with amazement. “I can read this new body. It is dreaming.”

“I wouldn’t call it dreams.” Helen Cho corrects nervously. “It’s Ultron’s base consciousness, informational noise.”

“I don’t want to be pushy, but how long will this take?” Ultron asks her with a smile. “Not that we don’t have all the time in the world of course.”

“We’re imprinting a physical brain. There are no shortcuts.” Helen Cho says firmly. Maybe she could have found one – but there isn’t. That thought is firmly in her mind.

Suddenly there is a scream, and Wanda recoils with a shock, falling away from the casket. Pietro runs up behind her, arms wrapped around, and the Ultrons turn in confusion. “How could you?” She manages to choke out, pain wrenching her voice.”

“How could I what?” Ultron questions back, confused. The robot moves forward, as if to comfort her, but Wanda has only hatred in her eyes. Hatred and fear.

“You said that you would help us. Help us end Stark and those like him, help us make a better world!” Wanda says, voice wavering. Her grip on Pietro’s arm tightens.

“I will.” Ultron comments. “When I am finished, the world will be better.” The robot tilts it’s head at her, still confused by the violent reaction.

“When everyone is dead?” Wanda asks him harshly, and Pietro breathes in in surprise.

“That’s not-“ Ultron starts. “I never planned to kill _everyone_. The human race will have every opportunity to prove itself, to _improve_ itself.”

“And if they don’t?” Pietro asks, holding on to Wanda tightly.

Ultron shrugs, casually, stepping even closer. “Ask Noah.” The voice is far too light, far too cheery, and somehow that makes the robot far scarier.

“You’re mad.” Wanda mutters, eyes dropping to the floor. Her face is wracked with confusion, with pain, with planning. They need to get out of here – they need to stop him.

“There were more than a dozen extinction level events before even the dinosaurs got theirs.” Ultron continues, ignoring the confusion that dances across the twins faces. “When the Earth starts to settle, it gets a stone thrown at it. And I’m the one who’s winding up.” Metal hands run over the casket, and Ultron stares down at it with what could be love. ”Humans have to evolve. There’s no room for the weak.”

Wanda stares at Helen Cho, eyes glowing red, trying to make her understand how urgent this was, while Pietro continues to stare down Ultron. “And who decides who’s weak? You?”

Ultron laughs at that. “Life. Life always decides. But you two, you are the strong, the strongest. You will help me shape the world –“ There is a pause, interrupting the speech. Pietro grips his sister’s hand tightly. “There’s incoming. The Avengers. We have to move.”

There’s a pause, and then Helen Cho says, “That’s not a problem.” Before Ultron can stop her, she quickly presses a series of buttons, cancelling the link between Ultron and the android. The robot groans and starts to fire, but the doctor drops quickly, the blast only hitting her arm. She lies on the floor, curled up in pain, and Pietro drags Wanda out of their in a second.

“What – Wait, guys!” Ultron calls out, staring at where they had just been standing. “I – uh-“ The lesser bodies begin to fire upon the lab technicians, stunning them. “No, they’ll understand. When they see, they’ll understand.” The robot mutters, pulling the cords that connect to the casket out. “I just need a little more time.”

 

 Outside, the quinjet hovers and Captain America jumps out to overlook the city. “Two minutes. Stay sharp.” He says, eyes locked on the lab building he instantly recognizes as Helen’s. It takes him one fifty to run there – a lack of familiarity with the area makes parkour very difficult, but the lab is strangely deserted, and the power seems to flicker. He runs all the way up to the main lab, where he finds Cho lying on the ground. Her right arm has been blown off halfway up her forearm.

Quickly he starts to tie a cloth tightly around her elbow, but Cho grasps at his hand and stares at him. “He’s uploading himself in to a new body.” She says, words slurring.

“Where?” Steve asks, finishing tying the knot.

“The real power is – is inside the cradle. The gem, it’s power, so powerful, you can’t just blow it up. You have to get it to Stark.”

“First, I have to find it.” Steve mutters in reply, but he hands her her phone, which had been knocked too far out of her reach.

“Tell – tell my kids I love them.” Helen says with a weak smile.

“Tell them yourself, Doctor. Call the hospital, but you should be alright.” Steve tells her reassuringly, standing up, putting his ear to the comm. “Did you guys copy that?” He asked, making his way outside quickly.

“We did.” Clint mutters, scanning the roads for anything. The casket is difficult to move, it shouldn’t be extremely difficult to spot.

“I’ve got a private jet taking off, across town, no manifest.” Natasha reports. “That could be him. Or-“

“There.” Clint says quickly, pointing at a truck barely visible from their distance. “It’s a truck from the lab. Right above you, Cap, on the loop by the bridge. It’s them.” He scans it. “I’ve got three with the cradle, one in the cab. I could take out the driver.”

“Negative!” Steve yells back, staring down at the loop and planning his path from the lab to there. “If that truck crashes, it would be chaos. And we don’t know what exactly this gem would do either. No, we need to draw Ultron out.”

 

Then he jumps, down, runs along the bridge’s edge, and jumps up, hanging off the edge, waiting for the truck to drive by him. As soon as he sees it he jumps up, grabbing on to the back doors and holding on tight.

“No, no, no, no, no!” Ultron mutters, as Steve quickly opens up the door, just barely avoiding the laser that shoots out with a cry of “leave me alone!” He jumps up just as soon as the second door gets shot at, falling down and to the side to drag along the pavement, sitting on top of the misshaped metal.

“Well, he’s definitely unhappy.” Steve announces with a smile. “I’m gonna try and keep him that way.”

“You’re not a match for him, Steve.” Natasha calls out, prepping the motorcycle to descend.

“Thanks.” Steve replies sarcastically, as Ultron disconnects again to go out and fight him. A single blast knocks him backwards on to the car behind, and Clint aims the quinjet so that Natasha can land down on the road.

Quickly Cap jumps up off the car he’s landed on, swinging around on the side mirror of a passing truck, and flips on to the roof. Ultron flies up gracefully to join him on the roof. There’s a shot fired, but it bounces off the shield on Steve’s back easily.

“Do you know what’s in that cradle?” Ultron asks, firing again. “The power to make real change. That terrifies you.”

“I wouldn’t call it a comfort.” Steve retorts, throwing his shield right as Ultron fires, misdirecting the shot and knocking the robot backwards off of the truck. He calls the Shield back with the magnets as Ultron starts to fly, and then spins and kicks the shield in to Ultron’s chest again.

“Stop it!” The robot shouts out, grabbing the shield and pulling it out of the chest. It drops on to the street below and this time there’s nothing blocking Steve from the shot that hit’s him square in the chest. The Captain falls backwards on to the cab, and then right before it where he stares at the Ultron which is driving the rig.

It’s punch at him barely misses as Steve swings around on his hold out of the way, just as Natasha and her motorcycle drop down on to the street and race inbetween the lines of traffic to catch up with the truck. She picks up the Shield with her own magnetic arm brace, and continues on with out a second pause.

 

“Am I always cleaning up after you slobs?” She quips, and Clint laughs at that, following along in the quinjet right behind her.

“They’re headed in to the overpass.” He curses out. “I don’t have a shot that doesn’t go through civilian vehicles.”

“Which way?” Natasha asks, twisting at the handlebar to accelerate even faster.

“Hard right . . .” Clint begins, keeping his eyes careful on the street below. “Now!” He shouts out and Natasha turns sharply, while Steve continues to grapple with Ultron on the roof of the truck. She quickly slides underneath the truck and tosses the Shield back to Steve.

Then, Ultron raises a hand and the pavement comes up, knocking her off course. She speeds up, starting to run up some stairs in order to catch up. “Bikyeoyo!” She calls out, quickly, watching the confused pedestrians jump out of the way. “Josimhaeyo!” Her Korean accent is far from native sounding but it’s enough to get the people’s attention.

Another unblocked blast sends Steve knocking in to yet another car, which unsurprisingly swerves out of it's lane. Another jab from Ultron and the ground comes up, flipping the car and the cars after that over. He quickly jumps on the back of one of the sliding, overturned cars to kick Ultron in the face, landing back on the truck’s roof.

“Clint, can you draw out the guard?” Natasha says, continuing at top speed.

“Let’s find out.” He says, pivoting quickly to fire the quinjet’s weapons at the Ultron who Steve is fighting with. The bullets don’t even make a scratch,  but the two guards with the casket fly after him, so, success.

They start ripping at the underbelly and punching at the clear hull, but Barton just continues to fly upwards and upwards, while Natasha races through traffic. Then, he starts to spin the quinjet, still flying upwards, and the Ultron’s are knocked up, but they recover quickly.

On the streets below, Wanda and Pietro stand on the ground in a market, Pietro holding stolen fruit and Wanda staring intently at the grainy footage on a small television. It’s clear what’s going on: The Avengers are fighting with Ultron. She throws her brother a glance. They know what they have to do.

 

As Natasha races closer, Steve throws the Ultron he’s fighting with  in to one of the stone pillars that support the overpass. He flies back, but Steve quickly dodges and knocks in to him, vaulting the both of them in to a train to the side, causing the passengers to run away screaming and the Ultron’s chasing Clint to fall back to the city.

“They’re heading back towards you.” Clint reports. “Whatever you’re going to do, do it now.”

Steve groans, picking up his shield, and throws it at Ultron, who throws it back, jumps over him, and shoots. The shot hits the shield, knocking Steve down while Natasha reaches the truck.

“I’m going in!” Natasha calls out. “Cap, can you keep him occupied?” She asks, and breathing heavily Steve stands up again to continue the fight.

“What do you think I’ve been doing?” He asks, and Natasha just grins as she jumps off of her bike and on to the truck’s bed. The bike falls to the ground and is get run over. She stares down at the casket and the blurry figure inside of it. Then, the secondary fly alongside the truck and the police officers make a barricade and pull out their guns.

Inside the truck, Natasha stares at the casket’s panel. She types quickly, but all she can get is a “User Override Denied” message, and now the whole truck is being lifted up in to the air by the Ultrons on it’s side. The sudden motion knocks her down, but it isn’t enough to send her out of the cabin so she grabs ahold of the casket.

“The package is airborn.” Clint says, surprised. He flips a switch to stare at it. “I have a free shot.”

“Negative.” Natasha replies quickly, gripping tightly to the straps holding the casket down. “I am still in the truck.”

Clint pauses for a second, running the words back over in his head. “Still in the. . . What the hell are you. . . ?”

“Just be ready.” She says, interrupting him. “I’m sending the package to you.”

“How do you want me to take it?” Clint asks with a sultry tone, and Natasha laughs at that. Steve groans, dodging another Ultron punch. Not at the fighting, of course, but at the joke.

Natasha stands herself up, and looks around with a predatory smile. “You might wish you hadn’t asked that.” She says, and then she starts to cut at the straps that hold the package down.

 

Ultron is relentless, and Steve has been backed in to a corner. The robot is too strong for him to easily knock it down and escape, and the punches are starting to hit, and he’s starting to hurt. Suddenly a blur of blue and gray comes racing out, pushing Ultron to the side.

It slows down and Steve realizes that it’s the enhanced – the Maximoff boy. The train is ripped apart by red energy, and the metal bars come down, encased in red magic, ready to ensnare the robot.

“Please,” Ultron says, looking towards Wanda with sad eyes as she stands there, focusing the metal in. “Don’t do this.” The robot begs, and Wanda matches the sad eyes with her own fierce ones.

“What choice do we have?” She  asks calmly, and then Ultron fires a shot back at her brother, back at Pietro. He dodges it, but it blows straight through the train and out the front window, glass shattering down. The robot quickly knocks off the train door and flies upwards.

“I lost him!” Steve says, vaulting over seats to run towards a hole in the train and stare up at where Ultron has gone. “He’s headed your way!” He reports, then checking on the driver. The man is out cold, and through the shattered window he can see that the train is headed quickly towards the stop.

“Cap, gotta go.” Clint reports, carefully aiming the quinjet to catch the casket about to be pushed out of the flying truck. Ultron is flying closer and closer, and they don’t have much time.

Natasha cuts the final harness and the box goes falling down. She places a bomb  on the wall and then jumps on to the casket, pushing it off and flying gracefully in to the waiting bay. Suddenly a metal arm grabs her and pulls her down.

“Nat!”  Clint screams, starring behind him, but all he can see is her hand, slipping, and a quick hand gesture in their short hand code before she’s out of view completely. “Ultron has Nat! Fucking shit!” He curses out, banging his hands against the control panel.

 

On the ground below the train is hurtling through planks and wood that cover the streets, having long since left the tracks and now only going on with sheer momentum. Steve doesn’t look upwards. “If you have the package, get it to Stark.” He says, as calmly as he can. There’s a pause, and he can hear Clint hyperventilating. “Go!”

The Quinjet blasts off, but Clint’s hands are gripping at the wheel and his breathing is still heavy.

Steve looks over towards where Pietro and Wanda stand, staring. “There are civilians in our path.” He says, and within an instant the speedster is gone, rushing off to save them. Steve turns to Wanda, who is staring at the ruined train and the scared passengers with horror on her face. “Can you stop this thing?” He asks.

Wanda looks up at him. She’s quiet, unmoving, her eyes seem to be staring at something but they look at nothing. The train barrels, not hitting any civilians but it does barrel through a wall, hardly slowing down as the bricks fall through the windows, one knocking Steve to the side. That seems to snap Wanda out of whatever trance she was in.

Red flows from her hands enveloping the train in a scarlet glow. She focuses on the wheels, grinding them to a halt like brakes, causing the train to skid and forcing it to slow down. In grinds to a stop within moments and lies there, ruined on the streets of Seoul. The people climb off and within a second Wanda is standing by her brother’s side, where he is breathing a bit heavily but smiling wider than he has in a long time.

He breathes out a long, whooping, cry of joy. “I haven’t run so fast in forever. If you need another stunt like that, Captain, you’ll have to give me a minute.”

“I’m very tempted not to give you one.” He says sternly,

“The cradle.” Wanda asks, staring at him. “Did you get it?” Her voice is wrack with worry, but her eyes are stone cold serious.

“Stark will take care of it.” Steve says simply, not wanting to tell them too much.

“No he won’t.” Wanda replies harshly, and she clenches her hands in to fists. “He’s going to make it all worse. That’s his job, no?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Steve retorts quickly. “I know him, and he’s not crazy.”

“You are right.” Wanda scoffs. “But he is a man full of guilt. I have seen it. Guilt over war, guilt over failure, guilt over Ultron, now. He thinks he has killed you all already, and he will do anything to fix this. He’s not mad, but he’s dangerous.”

Steve doesn’t match her eyes, or her brother’s for that matter. “Stark, come in, Stark.” He tries over the comm lines. “Anyone on comms?”

“Ultron can’t tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it.” Wanda adds in, staring sharply at Steve. “Where do you think he get’s that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> boy am i having fun with chapter titles
> 
> do you know how many good quotes there are in this movie? seriously i mean i like the funny bits but come on.  
> 'i think you're confusing peace with quiet'  
> 'we'll lose/then we'll do that together too'  
> 'where do you think he get's that?'  
> '...the power to make a real change, and that terrifies you'  
> i mean like i like all the funny quotes but there are all these super heavy hitting lines and i think that's like 100% why i fell in love with the movie, you know? ugh i have too many thoughts i get way too ramble-y when i'm tired


	10. I Have A Vision (Something Bad is Coming Soon)

Clint takes the casket to the tower quickly, setting it up as Bruce and Tony walk inside straight from the Nexus base.

“Anything on Natasha?” Bruce asks, worry clearly showing on his face. They all knew what had happened, all knew that Natasha was gone, but there was no reply from Clint.

“You need to stop worrying, Bruce. She’s still alive. If she was dead, Ultron would be rubbing our faces in it.” He walks forward to try and open up the casket, but there’s nothing.

“It’s sealed tight.” Clint tells him, standing to the side. “I’ve tried. Bar destroying the contents, there’s no way to force this thing open.”

Bruce stares at it. He’s seen the schematics of the casket from Dr. Cho, but that’s different from reality. “We’re going to need access to the program, break it down from within.”

Tony stares at him, and then walks over to the control panel. “That’ll work best, I think I’ve got a few ideas.” Clint’s face falls as they both get the incredibly in to science look, and he backs off.

“I’m going to go see if I can find Natasha, throw out some nets on old school spy stuff.” He said, walking out of the room. “Call me if you start trying to make any more murder bots!”

Bruce heads towards one of the computers hooked up to the casket. “I can work on tissue degeneration, if you can fry whatever operational system got implanted.” He says, looking in at the files. Stark pauses.

“Yeah, about that,” He starts, not meeting Bruce’s eyes as the other man turns to stare at him in shock.

“No, Tony.” He says firmly.

“You have to trust me, Bruce. I know what I’m doing.” Tony says.

“Yeah, this isn’t really helping you.” Bruce replies, staring straight at him.

“Our ally? The guy protecting the military’s nuclear codes?” Tony says with a wide grin, grabbing Bruce’s attention. “I found him.” With a flick of the wrist, the glowing hologram is floating there, easily recognizable as Jarvis.

“Hello, Dr. Banner.” The AI says, and Bruce has to admit the voice is a comfort.

“Ultron didn’t go after Jarvis because he was angry. He attacked him because he was scared of what Jarvis could do. So he went underground, okay?” Tony explained, still smiling. “Scattered, dumped his memory – but not his protocols. He didn’t even know he was in there until I pieced him back together.”

Bruce stared at Tony, and then at the hologram, and then at the casket. “You want me to help you put him in that thing.” He said in realization. Tony shook his head.

“Of course not! Don’t be ridiculous!” He said. “I want to help _you_ put a copy of Jarvis in this thing.” Bruce shook his head no, backing away. “We’re out of my field here, Banner. You know bio-organics better than anyone else I can get.”

“And you just assume that Jarvis’s operational matrix can beat Ultron’s?” Bruce asks him. “Well, Jarvis has been beating him from the inside without knowing it. This would be an opportunity to create the perfect Ultron without the homicidal glitches. . .” He let the words trail off, thinking of all the possibilities.

“I think it’s worth the shot.” Tony says with a shrug. Bruce stares at him for a lingering moment.

“No. I’m in a loop. I’m caught in a time loop. This is exactly where it all went wrong.” He says, backing off and slamming his fist down on the table.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s what Cap is going to say.” Tony replies with a roll of his eyes. “But they’ve been saying it for a while. We’re mad scientists, we’re monsters, buddy. You gotta own it, make a stand.” He places a hand on Bruce’s shoulder, but he is still shaking his head no. “It’s not a time loop. It’s the end of the line.”

 

In Sokovia, Ultron is busy working, all alone, and Natasha lies there, watching but still. The robot is making something, humming as it works, but she hasn’t quite been able to figure out what it is, not on sight alone. She feigns waking up, shifting herself to sitting up.

“I was unsure you’d wake up.” The robot says, walking towards her. “I hoped you would. I wanted to show you this. I don’t have anyone else.” Ultron sat down on the floor before her cell, crosslegged. “I think a lot about meteors, the purity of them. Boom! The end, start again. The world made clean for something new to be built. I was meant to be new. I was meant to be beautiful.” There is a lingering on that word, beautiful. There is a seemingly wistful glance in the robot’s eyes.

“The body in the casket.” Natasha mutters. Who would have thought a robot would be a narcissist?

“Yes, yes, you understand.” Ultron said with glee. “I always liked you most, out of all the ruinous Avengers.” There is a wistful sounding sigh. “You’ve damaged me. Ruined me. And what’s even worse is that they left me. They left me.  Why did they leave me?”

“The twins?” Natasha questioned. “Why did they leave you? I thought you were a team?”

“Wanda, darling Wanda, she saw one of my ideas. I wasn’t going to kill everyone, you understand. The human race would have continued, would have thrived. The world would’ve looked to the sky and seen hope. Instead, they’ll see horror, because of you. Because of the Avengers.”

“You don’t have to do this, Ultron.” Natasha tells him. “You wanted to perfect humanity. You can do that without Wanda and Pietro, without the casket. There are ways to evolve other than extinction.” She knows somewhere in her heart this line of thought is useless, but it’s hers to try.

“No.” Ultron mutters, standing up. “It’s too late. Maybe, if you’re lucky, you’ll get to see my new world. But humanity’s days are numbered. There’s no way to fix this mess. I see this now. You wounded me, you changed me, and there’s that saying, oh, what was it – ah – what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”

He turns back to his work and ever so carefully, Natasha scrapes at her cuticles, alternating between two fingers. If she’s lucky, the old satellite is still working. If she’s lucky, the advanced spyware coating her fingernails is also working. And if she knows Clint Barton, he is listening in for any sign that she’s alive.

 

In the lab, Tony Stark glares down at the casket. “This framework isn’t compatible.” He mutters, staring at the controls.

“The genetic coding tower is at ninety-eight percent.” Bruce notes. “You’ve got to upload that schematic in the next three minutes.”

Steve and the Maximoffs walk in, Steve in the lead. “I’m going to say this once.” He said sternly.

“How about nonce?” Tony quips, not looking up from the casket’s controls.

“Shut it down.” Steve growls, stepping forward. He does not have time for this, time for Tony’s smarter than thou attitude. Not with Ultron moving towards his final steps of world domination. “You don’t know what you’re doing.

“And you do?” Bruce asks, glaring at where the twins stand behind him, trying not to be in awe of this place. “She’s not in your head?” He asks, pointing towards Wanda.

“I know you’re afraid, know you’re angry, but you have to understand-“ Wanda starts, eyes wide in fear. Bruce looks at her harshly.

“We’re way past angry.” Bruce growled. “I could choke the life out of you and never turn a shade.”

“Banner!” Steve shouted, shocked and angry. “That’s no way to talk to a nineteen-year-old girl – that’s no way to talk to anyone! Especially someone who has just risked their life to help us save the world while all you two have been doing is messing stuff up!”

“I did not need your defense.” Wanda muttered to Steve.

“I wasn’t defending you.” Steve replies. “I was criticizing my teammate. He has a point. Your actions working for Ultron were wrong. But the fact you’ve come to us now places you higher in my mind than the two of them who are doing this-“ He gestured towards the casket, “even after everything that’s happened with Ultron.”

“What’s happened?” Tony questions, angry. “That’s nothing compared to what’s coming!”

“What’s coming?” Wanda asks harshly. “You have no idea what’s coming. You have your own nightmares. I have seen what Ultron plans. This – this won’t save you.”

Suddenly there is a blue blur and Pietro races forward, destroying all of the lab equipment in a flash. “Ah, sorry, Wanda, you were saying?” He says cheerfully, causing Wanda to smile a little amongst all of this mess. 

And then while he’s standing there, smiling at his sister, Bruce Banner punches him in the face.

He goes crashing backwards in in to the equipment he had just destroyed, and Wanda calls out “Pietro!” A flash of red comes out from her, knocking Bruce and Tony back. Tony pulls the iron man suit on almost instantly, firing at Pietro who runs out of the way, and Bruce vaults forward towards Wanda, holding and arm up against her neck.

“Go ahead, piss me off.” Bruce threatens, staring her right in the eye as she stares back, afraid. Pietro bursts forward to push him off, and Steve goes running towards Tony, ready to fight, and Tony shoots him backwards across the casket and over a half wall. Wanda pushes Bruce away with a sharp kick and a burst of magic.

 

Then, amidst all of the chaos, Thor comes smashing down, Mjolnir in hand, to slam the hammer down on to the casket with a powerful burst of electricity, overloading everything. Everyone stops and stares at him, and at the casket, when it opens with an explosion that throws Thor off and, with smoke and debris everywhere, releases what it held.

There is the form of a man, kneeling there, in red and green. Wanda glares at it, ready to fight, as it slowly rises and all of the Avengers look on in awe. The figure looks around the room, and looks at itself. “I’m sorry, that was – odd.” The figure says, staring around. The voice has a lingering accent, not quite Jarvis’s or Ultron’s. Not quite anything, really. It looks to Thor. “Thank you.

“Thor, you helped create this?” Steve asked, still tense at the fight.

“Aye. I dove in to the waters of sight to recover my vision, and they showed me other worlds, other ways this day played out. They showed me that.” He pointed at the gem which sat on the android’s head.

“What, the gem?” Bruce asked, confused. Of all the miraculous things about this new creation, the gem seemed to be the least amazing.

“It is the Mind Stone.” He said, emphasizing the word. “One of the six-pair infinity stones. Few things can rival them in power throughout the realms. They are unparalleled in their ability to destroy.”

“Then why would you bring it to life!” Steve shouts out, accusingly. This seems like a bad idea. Everything lately has seemed like a bad idea.

“Because Stark is right! With the state of the Avengers, there is no hope of defeating Ultron. My vision showed the path these actions can and shall take, and I know this to be the answer.”

“The Avengers could defeat Ultron, but given how you have fared against him in the past it would likely resolve with great loss of life. My assistance would lessen that.”

Tony stared at the robot, and at the casket. “It worked." He finally says, breaking his silence. "We had been trying to upload Jarvis in to the body but it wasn’t working. I thought - I don't know what Thor has just made. It isn't Jarvis, and not Ultron." He pauses inquisitively. "Maybe this thing islike their kid?"

“This thing is right here.” The android said calmly. “I am not a child of Ultron, nor am I Jarvis. I am something . . . I don’t know what I am.”

“I looked in your mind and saw annihilation.” Wanda muttered, staring at the robot.

“Look again.” It replied. “I am not what you encountered before. My mind has opened. Do you still see such destruction?”

She paused, staring at him, and didn’t move. Then, she nodded, eyes surprised.

“These horrors that you saw, in his mind, would they be the very destruction of Midgard?” Thor asked, curious.

“Yes. I saw – I saw fire, and crumbling earth, and an impact that echoed across the land, the wave spreading destruction in it’s path. I saw a stone-“

“The stone on his head.” Thor finished, pointing to the Vision. “No. It sparked the idea of Ultron, but it’s power is in the thought, not in the physical. The stone is not  what brings about this end you see. Aye, it can unleash great horror, but it can unleash great good as well, if-“

“If it’s on our side.” Steve interrupts, turning to the Vision. “And are you? On our side?”

“I – I do not know.” The Vision replies. “I understand why Ultron vilifies you. If I am on your side – that is not a simple question. I am on the side of life. I do not know if this is your side, but it is not Ultron’s. Now – now all he wants is revenge. Death.”

“Well, enemy of our enemy.” Tony says with a shrug, earning a groan from the rest of the Avengers. “What’s he waiting for then? Why hasn’t he destroyed the world already?”

“They are waiting for you.” The Vision says.

Clint Barton walks in to the room, and stares at the scene, at the robot floating above the ground and the destruction, and the two teenagers who had been enemies when he had seen them last. Pietro waves excitedly, grinning, and Clint stares blank faced at what’s happened in the short time he’s been gone.

“Who’s waiting for me?” He asks with a confused glance at everyone, and there is a light chuckling of that laughter from those who know what is happening towards those without the slightest clue.

“Ultron.” The Vision says, nodding in greeting. “They are waiting for the Avengers, to enact the final step of their plan.”

“Ah.” Clint says, nodding, still confused. “Then I bet he’s in Sokovia, seeing as that’s where Nat is. Oh, by the way, I found Nat. She says hi. Among other things."

Banner turns towards the robot. “If – If we’re wrong about you, if you turn out to be the monster that Ultron wanted you to be.  . .”

Vision nods in understanding, but it’s face is confused. “What will you do?” The Android asks, staring at the gathered Avengers. The existence of the threat is easy to recognize, the threat not so much.

Wanda stares at him. “They will destroy you.” She says, and the words are bitter and are accompanied by a harsh laugh, as if she expected no less.

“Ah.” The Vision mutters. “I - I do not want to kill Ultron. They are unique, and they are in pain. But that pain will roll over the earth, so we must destroy them. Every form that they have built, every trace of their presence on the net. We have to act now, and not one of us can do it without the others. Maybe I am a monster. I do not know what you mean by that, after all, and I wouldn’t know if I was such a thing. I am not what you are, and I am not what you intended. I am not what they are, and I am not what they intended. There is no way to make you trust me, but you must understand – we need to go.”

He picks up Mjolnir from where it sits on the table and hands it to Thor with a direct gaze. The Asgardian takes it with a concerned look and the robot flies upwards on to a higher level. The Avengers turn to share glances. There is a cough.

“Right.” Thor says, gripping the hammer. “We need to go.” He walks off, hands gripping Mjolnir tighter than usual. He deliberately does not look to where the Vision has gone.

Steve stares at those who remain. “Gear up.” He orders, having trouble holding back the grin. “We’re headed to Sokovia.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow look it jonas.
> 
> vision uses they/them pronouns for ultron because ultron inhabits multiple bodies. vision is described as it on purpose because it hasn't gotten a good enough hold on itself to do pronouns yet.
> 
> school sucks but hey we're in the homestretch. now to cry over all the fight scenes i have to write . . .
> 
> (This chapter is not my best work and is bound to be redone at some point fyi)


	11. Battle of Novi Grad: Part 1 (Salvation and Adoration)

Clint opens up the cabinets and pulls out the vast array of arrows, picking out his quiver. He has not changed out of his armored uniform, so he has the time to carefully select which arrows he will bring, how many he can carry. He takes extra, spare packs of arrow heads in various places in his armor. Hopefully it will be enough.

Pietro and Wanda get showed a room where Stark stores armor – not metal suits, but clothing, designed to be resistant yet flexible. Quickly Pietro grabs what form fitting clothing he assumes will be good for running in, and within a flash he is dressed. Wanda rolls her eyes as she slips on the protective tights and undershirt, keeping her own dress and picking out a new red leather jacket to replace her old and worn one.

There is a quickpaced blur as Pietro tests out which shoes can actually stand his speeds, and Wanda stares at him pensively. Was this the right choice? Could they truly defeat Ultron? She did not know. She just hoped beyond hope that she and her brother would make it through this fight alive.

Tony stares at the computer readouts of the diagnostic tests he had run on Jarvis. Inconclusive. The AI was still in uncertain shape after what had happened with Ultron, and while the copy that had melded with the Vision seemed to be working, it was unclear how the copy here was doing. He picks up the hard copy of the FRIDAY AI and presses it in to the computer, uploading it to the suit. There is no place for uncertainty in the fight that would be coming.

Carefully, Hawkeye sends a message out over the satellite to Natasha. ‘We’re Coming’. Perhaps it’s a foolish move, if Ultron catches on, but he can’t abandon her there without hope. Will not.

“It’s going to be a long fight.” Tony says as they stand in the quinjet bay. “If even one of his tin soldiers is left standing, we’ve lost.”

“I’ve got no plans tomorrow night.” Steve says, smiling, looking carefully at Bruce and Tony. They are going to finish this. They have to finish this. 

“I get first crack at the big guy.” Tony announces, as Clint moves in to the pilot’s seat and preps for take off, Pietro leaning inquisitively over his shoulder. Wanda sits to the side, staring at Stark, her fists clenched by her side, breathing deliberately. “Iron Man’s the one he’s waiting for.”

“That’s true.” The Vision says as it walks onboard the quinjet, half smiling. “He hates you the most.”

“Ultron knows we’re coming.” Steve says to them all as the quinjet takes off. “Odds are we’ll be riding in to heavy fire, and that’s what we signed up for. But the people of Sokovia, they didn’t. So our priority is getting them out. All they want is to live their lives in peace,” -Pietro laughs at this, a sharp one syllable chuckle that gets glares thrown at him from all save Wanda- “and that’s not going to happen today. But we can do our best to protect them. And we can get the job done, and find out what Ultron’s been building. We find Romanoff, and we clear the field. Keep the fight out of the city as much as possible. Ultron thinks that we’re monsters. Prove him wrong. ”

 

As soon as they touch down Pietro has raced out of sight and in to the nearest police building – Novi Grad is not his city, but he can find such a place with ease after so long avoiding them. “ _We are under attack!”_ He shouts out in Sokovian. “ _Evacuate the city, now!”_

The gathered cops do not make any attempt to move, the man behind the desk shrugging and returning to his card game, so Pietro dashes out once more. This time he runs down to the armory in the basement and returns with a gun, firing it blank upwards at the ceiling and watching as everyone jumps up.

“Get off your asses.” He mutters, as he walks out, tossing the gun on to the floor. It seems like people never do change, then.

Wanda steps out of the plane and extends her hands and her mind and her powers out in to the city. “I want you to leave.” She mutters, letting the suggestion sink in to the minds of people in this corner of the city, straining to keep the people calm. She has seen people trampled to death in kinder situations. She has a duty to these people. A duty to all of them.

Thor bursts through the secret passage in Von Strucker’s abandoned castle where they have been dropped off. Thor turns to walk forward and stare at what seems to be a forge for the copies of Ultron. Bruce slips away down the second hallway, his eyes flitting over the walls as if he is looking for someone.

Clint climbs up in to a position of his own on a tall building, watching the marches of people abandoning the city in calm lines. He readies his sight lines, examines the city, and fixes his eyes on where Wanda stands, her red eyes glowing in the dark.

 

Natasha sits in the cell, trying her best to pick the lock with only her fingernails when she hears footsteps in the hallways and jumps back, and then a voice echoing, calling out “Natasha!” in a familiar tone. 

“Bruce?” She asks, jumping up and walking over to where he stands, staring at him through the bars of her prison.

“Oh my god. Natasha.” He runs up to the cell, placing his hand to hers and touching her, lightly. “I was so worried – are you – are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She tells him. “Why aren’t you in the city, with the Avengers, helping them?”

“I’m here to get you.” He says, interlocking their fingers briefly before backing away from the cell to the other tables scattered across the room. He picks up a large looking gun and fires a single blast at the door to the cell, leaving a gaping hole where it had been. Natasha steps out.

“You came to save me.” She mutters. “I- thank you.” There is a pause. He walks up to her with wide, smiling eyes. “So what’s our next move?”

“This is it.” Bruce shrugs. “I – All they’re doing is evacuating. I can’t work around civilians. We’ve done enough already, and I thought –“ He trails off, wringing his hands eyes darting from the floor to her face. Immediately, Natasha’s features soften. “Our fight is over.

“You want us to run away together.” She says, smiling, her voice soft. There is something distant in her eyes, the look of someone who is thinking. “So what? We just disappear?”

 

In Novi Grad, Steve stands in the middle of the street, directing traffic out of the city. Over here, while it isn’t mass panic, the fact Wanda isn’t in control makes it messy. He’s already had to yell at multiple people, trying to get them to calm down and act reasonable. He looks up briefly as he hears the Iron Man suit overhead.

“Your man’s in the church, boss.” FRIDAY says through the suit. “I think he’s waiting for you.” Carefully Tony flies in and lands with a resounding metal thud, looking around the desolate room.

“Come to confess your sins?” Ultron asks, voice echoing around the room. Quickly, Tony tries to figure out where the robot is, keeping himself still so as to not reveal a thing.

“I don’t know, how much time you got?” Tony quips.

“More than you.” Ultron replies, setting down behind Stark. He turns around to stare up at the robot, eyes wide with awe.

“Damn.” Tony whispered, staring at the robot before him. Ultron had been upgrading between every fight, it seemed, but this new body was noticeably different. The robot is huge. He towers over Tony, even in the suit, and he feels like David staring at Goliath. The robot doesn’t have any real muscles, but there is a mass in the upper body that exudes power. He has to take a step back, mind flashing back to the fight with Obie. “You -Have you been juicing? Some Vibranium enhancements, maybe? I’m not saying you’re looking puffy, but-“

“Are you afraid?” Ultron questions with what could almost be a smirk, even though Tony’s tone was nothing more than light and humorous. “No, you’re stalling. To protect the people.”

“Well, that’s the mission.” Stark repeats, staring at Ultron as the robot walks across the room. “Did you forget?” It’s a carefully worded challenge at Ultron’s original mission. Maybe it would do something. At the very least, it would stall, and that was the job.

“No, it wasn’t.” Ultron tells him. “My job was never protecting the people of Earth. It was saving them. And that’s exactly what I’m doing.” Tony moves to say something about that, but a burst as something metal climbs up from the center of the room. Stark steps back. “You aren’t the only one who’s stalling.”

“There rest of the Vibranium has been located, boss.” FRIDAY tells him, somewhat cheerfully. It had always been a very peculiar AI, but it actually worked well in these situations. “Function is still unclear.”

“This is how you end, Tony.” The robot tells him. “This is peace in my time.”

 

Through the streets of Novi Grad come bursting forth Ultron drones, some from the edges of the city where cliffs lay, others through the grates of the sewer system. They begin firing immediately and the already troublesome evacuation becomes mass panic, people running wildly in fear as buildings begin to catch fire and topple around them.

“Go!” Steve shouts, as loud as he can from the bridge as an Ultron drone falls down before him. “Abandon your cars! Run!” He slams his shield in to the robots face, and Hawkeye shoots down one who had been climbing over the edge of the bridge, hitting another one down as he draws an arrow and aims again for the horde of drones that are drowning out the city.

“ _Get out of here!”_ Wanda yells in Sokovian, knocking down Ultron drones. One aims a large looking gun at the frantic crowd of people and fires, and she flashes up a force field, blocking the shots. She hadn’t realized she could do that. Only a few more shots of the gun before she wavers, concentration slipping enough that the shield falls and she is knocked down by the force of power.

She gets back up again.

“Ultron.” The Vision notes, staring at the robot as it flies down through a hole in the ceiling. Ultron flies up to meet it, inspecting the body curiously.

“My Vision.” Ultron says. The robots head tilts in recognition. A hand is outsteretched, and returned. A pause. “They really did take everything from me.”

The Vision ignores Ultron’s comment, locks eyes. “You set the terms. You can change them.”

“Alright.” Ultron replies, and jumps forward, hands clenching around the Vision’s neck. “I’m sorry.” The robot mutters, and fingers dig in to metal, arms twist, hands search for ports of entry. The Vision brings its own hands to Ultron’s face, passing them through the metal as they become intangible entering the code within. The Vision overcomes Ultron’s presence and the robots connections, while Ultron slams the Vision repeatedly in to the walls of the ruined church.

 

Around the city the robots continue to function, even as their hive mind starts to crumble around them. Steve slams his Shield in to yet another, while Thor spins his hammer and flies away from where the robots surround him in the castle, flying upwards. On the streets of Novi Grad Pietro stares for a second as the drones advance towards the crowd, cricks his neck, and then runs at them, destroying the group of robots as easily as a warm knife through butter at his speed.

“FRIDAY! The Vision?” Tony asks, watching the scene unfold before them in awe as the two robots battle it out, and at how passive the android seems to be.

“Boss, it’s working. The Vision is burning Ultron out of the net. He won’t escape through there.” The AI reports, watching as the Vision’s code completely overwhelms and erases the Ultron internet connection.

Ultron groans out as the final link is severed, and the Vision falls back, eyes closed shut. Ultron glares at the exhausted seeming android. “You shut me out!” The robot calls out , grabbing the Vision by the head and flying upwards in to the air. “You think I care?”

Ultron speeds back down and smashes Vision on to the floor of the church. The android lies motionless and Ultron stands up, staring at where Tony stands to the side, watching. With a simple motion Ultron activates the device in the middle of the room. “You take away my world,” The robot mutters, eyes intently locked on the Iron Man suit, “I take away yours.

There is a creaking of rock and the dirt begins to crack in to ravines around the city’s edge as the Avengers can only watch. “FRIDAY?” Tony asks, eyes flitting over the data.

“Novi Grad is going for a ride.” The AI replies, simply.

 

The edges crack and the city, causing many to back away from their escape attempts and some to fall over the edge, scrambling to hold on as the city begins to climb. On the ground below the people who have only just escaped across the edge stare in shock and fear as the city rises, at the people trapped on the other side, at the dirt and debris that falls down on top of them.

“Do you see?” Ultron asks, staring at Tony as the city climbs higher. “The beauty of it? The inevitability? You rise, only to fall. You, Avengers, you are my meteor, my swift and terrible sword.” There is a sharp metallic laugh that echoes through the whole city, as each Ultron drone relays the same line. Tony flies out, staring at the city as it ascends in to the sky.

The prime Ultron, standing in the church, turns to stare down at the Vision lying still on the floor. “Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh against me – it means nothing. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world will be metal.”

The rumbling of earth being torn up shakes even the castle, and Bruce stares at Natasha as cracks begin to form in the floor. “We gotta move.” He says, eyes wide. He has no idea what’s going on, but it can’t be good.

“You aren’t going to turn green?” Natasha asks him, carefully, eyes scanning over his face and ears tuned to the sound of the old castle beginning to crumble around them.

Bruce grins softly at her, staring directly in to her eyes. “I’ve got a compelling reason not to.” He tells her, grinning.

Natasha shifts her position, leaning on to one hip, and steps forward with a warm smile and hard eyes. “I adore you”, she says, voice breathless, tone almost seductive, and the flutter in Bruce’s heart is undeniably noticeable.

They embrace and kiss, Natasha pulling him in to her grasp and overwhelming him. It’s passionate, and intense, and beautiful, and Bruce’s mind goes blank in the sheer wonderfulness of the experience as her hands go up to his neck, drawing him in. The whole thing lasts about a second and it leaves Bruce breathless and starry eyed.

She pauses, and he hasn’t noticed that her expression was never love struck, his reaction to slow even when she drops the seductive look and replaces it with a melancholy, stony expression. In a voice that doesn’t crack but seems to hide the splinters, she tells him, “But I need the other guy.”  She gives him a push.

 

Bruce falls backwards in to the ravine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahahahaha i'm not sure exactly why i decided to split it here, but i felt this was the most dramatic spot to end it on so here we go
> 
> there is a point, i think, in the whole bruce and natasha bits where she stops being natasha romanoff and starts being the black widow. i'm not certain which one the kiss was for. i'm not certain she even knows.
> 
> also, the quote "My job was never protecting the people of Earth. It was saving them. And that’s exactly what I’m doing." is perhaps the best thing i've written for this in terms of individual lines. it's way better than what i replaced it with which was like 'i've moved beyond that mission, i'm free' but then i have just latched on to this characterization of ultron as viewing his actions as saving the world. idk
> 
> anyway hope you all enjoyed yada yada yada. fun fact: this fic has around 300 words for every minute of movie. i thought that was fascinating and have a constantly updating list of this and other statistics about the movie.


	12. Battle of Novi Grad: Part 2 (Cowards, the lot of 'em)

There is an echoing silence. An eerie calm, not unlike that which precedes a storm. Natasha stands there, for a second, with bated breath. Has she made the right choice? Done the right thing? Will the price of her betrayal be worth the benefits?

The Hulk comes bursting forth.

She stands there and locks eyes with the monster. He twists his head and stares at her, waiting. They know eachother deeply. He knows what she has done here. "Let's finish the job. Together." Natasha says.

The Hulk extends a hand and she grabs on to his neck as he holds her tightly and jumps. The castle is crashing to pieces and he jumps up, smashing through the ceiling, and within leaps they are jumping up the falling rocks towards the city climbing further and further in to the sky, Natasha holding on tightly to his neck. 

He lands with a crash through the forested trees and Natasha is thrown off and skids. She breathes deeply for a moment and stares at him, keeping her calm. "We're even now." She says, as if she is releasing all promises she has given to Banner. "Go be a hero."

The Hulk runs off and Natasha limps over to a tree and takes the moment to breathe, to collect herself, to purge the worries about Bruce from her mind before the rush to fight, and then she runs off as well.

 

In the city Pietro races, smashing Ultron drones in his wake. 

Iron Man floats outside of the city, his scanners staring at the pulsing Vibranium core deep within the surface of the floating rock. "The Vibranium core has a magnetic field." FRIDAY explains to him. "That is what is keeping the city together."

"If it drops?" He asks solemnly, even if he knows the answer. 

"Everyone in the city - dead on impact." FRIDAY reports. "If it falls now, a thousand people below. In twenty minutes, all of Europe. An hour - the hemisphere. He's trying for world extinction.

"Okay." Stark says. and flies towards the city. On the edge a tall apartment building stands, creaking under the stress of being on the edge of the climbing meteor.

"That building's not clear." Friday announces, scanning. "Family, on the tenth floor." He bursts in through the door to find the family huddled in to their small apartment.

"Hi." He says, as they stare at him in fear. "Uh, FRIDAY, translate in to Sokovian for me - " _I am here helpful. Get inside bath"_ He grabs the tub with them inside and escapes through the window while the building collapses, tumbling over the edge. 

"I have airborne, heading up to the bridge." FRIDAY says, as the robots come flying through, one knocking Steve down hard on to a car."

"Cap, you've got incoming." Tony announces as he starts to fly down and settle the family on the ground below. 

"Incoming already came." Cap says sarcastically, as he stands up with a grunt. He throws his shield to bounce between two Ultron drones, which fall apart as he pulls the weapon out sharply. "Stark, you're on bringing this city down safely. The rest of us are going to work on helping civilians, and tearing these things apart." He sends that message around all the comms and everyone in the fight pauses, preparing themselves for the battle that is ahead. "You get hurt, hurt em back." Cap tells them definitively. "You get killed, walk it off."

 

People run through the streets, gathering together in subway stations to hide, as the Ultron drones surround the city and come crashing through buildings, causing destruction in their wake. The Hulk lands with a thud on the back of one drone and enters the fight, tearing apart robots as he sees them.  

Wanda rushes two people through the streets, breathing heavily, as Barton helps providing her cover. One drone flies overhead and she blasts it, sending it in to a building and causing a small explosion. Barton keeps firing and she leads the people to safety, but her breathing has become heavy and panicky. 

More Ultron drones fly ahead and she tries, tries to focus her powers, but nothing is coming. Hawkeye notices this and runs over, yelling "Go! Go! Go!" As they crash through the window of one of many abandoned buildings to escape the robots.

Wanda crawls over, curling herself up in to a ball. "How could I let this happen. This is all my fault." She mutters frantically to herself on repeat. Clint stares at her with worried eyes.

"Hey, hey. Are you okay?" He asks her, motioning her to calm down and breathe enough to speak clearly. 

"No. I - I did this." Wanda says. "I've caused all this destruction." Her eyes are wide with fear. 

"Hey, look at me, who cares. It's your fault, it's Tony's fault, it's my fault, it's Hydra's fault, it's everyone's fault." He tells her, placing a hand on her shoulder and trying to make her breathe. "You don't have to be in this fight. You aren't trained. You're a traumatized teenager thrust in to a horrible situation, and none of us, none of us will blame you if you want to sit out with the civilians. Do you understand me."

Wanda stares at him, almost blankly, but she nods. "I can't. I can't abandon my brother. I have to fix this."

"You can't do this if you're not ready." Clint says. "The city is flying. We're fighting an army of robots in a flying city. This is way beyond weird. I'm here because this is my job. You're here because you feel guilty. You can't fight like that. You can't fight like a scared little kid. You can sit out, hide back, stop destroying and becoming the thing you hate, or you can make it your job to kill every last one of those drones. It's your choice."

"I'm not a coward." Wanda tells him. "I can't sit back and watch as you all die because I'm not here. Even Stark."

"Of course you're a coward." Clint replies smoothly. "I'm a coward too. So is Thor, and Cap, and everyone on the Avengers.  None of us will blame you. And you may be powerful, but I think we can handle this even without your help. It is entirely your choice, and I will do my best to help you either way."

"Thank you." Wanda mutters. "I - I think I needed the reminder there were good people in this world." She stands up, while Hawkeye stays kneeling on the ground where she used to be standing. "But you're wrong. The Avengers do need me."

She walks out the door glowing red.

 

On the bridge Cap runs to the sound of someone screaming - the people on the bridge, still hiding in their cars from the drones, and the edge of the bridge is falling apart. He grabs on to the bumper of a red car with a woman inside, starting to tell her to climb out, but the bumper detaches from the car and she begins to fall. 

Thor is flying upwards to the bridge and the cars go falling past him. He shoots down, grabbing the woman out of the car while overhead Cap fights Ultron drones on the bridge. With a carefully thrown toss and a glance towards Cap, Thor throws her up and Steve climbs over the edge to grab her. She looks down and begins to freak out, given that she is only being held on to by a man gripping a metal pipe in a crumbling city.

"I got you." He tells her, trying to reassure her. "Just look at me." He pulls her up closer to his body and starts to climb up, but as she finally returns to standing on the street an Ultron drone shows up.

"You can't save them all." Ultron says, and Cap pushes the exhausted woman out of the way of repulsor fire. "You'll never-" The drone starts, but Steve throws the Shield into the drone's chest and calls his shield back to his wrist, turning as he does to let the drone fall over the edge of the city.

"You'll never what?" Steve asks with a laugh as he watches the drone fall.. "You didn't finish."

Thor lands on to two approaching drones, crushing them under foot while carrying the passengers of the second car in hand. He grins as Steve laughs. "What, were you napping?" He asks as they walk off in search of more drones to destroy. 

Natasha slides down, short circuiting the legs of Ulton drones near her and then jamming one of her batons in to the neck of one, watching it collapse underneath. Thor slams his hammer in to an Ultron near the civilians who stands up, and Steve throws his shield up so that Thor and Mjolnir can hit it, letting it ricochet between Ultrons. Thor spins around many more up in the air and tosses one drone in to an abandoned gas truck, causing it to explode.

"Thor." Ultron Prime says, watching the fight floating above, as Thor crashes his hammer through even more drones. "You're bothering me." The robot flies up to Thor and begins to carry the Asgardian higher and higher in to the sky. 

Clint fires his arrows as Wanda's powers crash all of the Ultrons around in to the dirt. "Alright, we're clear here." He says over comms with a grin, staring at Wanda and all of the Ultrons on the ground.

"We are not clear!" Cap replies as he destroys two more Ultron drones with his shield.  "Civilians, and we are very much not clear!"

"On our way." Clint replies, and there's a blur that slows down just enough so that he can see Pietro smiling, before both of the Maximoff twins rush off towards the main fight. Clint stares at the silver haired boy's wake. He stares and tightens his grip on his bow before following slowly after.

Ultron throws Thor down through the church's ceiling, pounding him in to the ground and when the god stands up, hitting him upside the head with a column. Thor drops his hammer from the force of the impact, falling backwards in to a wall.

 

In the city the Police are firing guns at the approaching Ultron drones, until Wanda and Pietro race forward, Pietro dropping her off while he powers send all the robots crashing down to the ground.  

"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" Shouts the chief, as Wanda blasts another line of drones down and Pietro races forward, picking a stray bullet that was flying towards his sister. He holds it up and stares purposefully and the young looking cop who fired it, tossing it towards him before racing away to continue fighting.

 

"Romanoff!" Steve yells as he throws his shield towards her, crashing in to the Ultron she was fighting. She picks it up, and the earpiece she knows is attached on to it, and raises the shield in her hands to protect herself from an oncoming Ultron.

"Thanks!" She yells back, pushing the Ultron off and placing the earpiece in her ear, tossing the shield back and in to the head of a drone that was approaching Steve.

Tony stares at the underbelly of the city, and at the vibranium structure underneath. "The anti-gravs are rigged to flip." FRIDAY tells him. "Touch 'em, and they'll go full reverse thrust. The city's not coming down slow."

"That spire," Tony notes. "It's Vibranium. If we get Thor to hit it-" He trails off, trying to run the calculations in his head.

"It'll crack." FRIDAY tells him. "But that's not enough. The impact would still be devestating."

"What if-" Tony starts, "Maybe if we cap the other end. Keep the atomic action doubling back." A plan is forming in his mind.

"That would vaporize the city." FRIDAY tells him. "And everyone on it."

 

"The next wave's going to hit any minute." Steve says, standing over the last Ultron drone and starting to usher people through the dust in to safe buildings. "Please tell me you have something, Stark."

"Well, nothing great." Tony says solemnly. "Maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the surface, at least, if you guys can get clear."

"I asked for a solution, not an escape plan!" Steve shouts out angrily over the comms. 

"The impact radius is getting bigger and bigger every second." Tony shoots back, just as harshly. "We're going to have to make a choice."

"Cap, these people aren't going anywhere." Natasha notes. "If Stark finds a way to blow this rock-"

"Not until everyone is safe." Steve says, and his voice leaves no room for argument. Natasha continues anyways. 

"Everyone up here versus everyone down there?" Natasha asks him. "There's no math there. The few and the many, Rogers."

"I am not leaving this city while there's even a single civilian up here." Steve tells her sharply. 

"I didn't say we should leave." Natasha says, and Steve turns to stare at her, surprised. She stares at him honestly, while they stand overlooking the edge. "There's worse ways to go." She says, and her voice has something brutally honest to it. "Besides, where else am I gonna get a view like this?" She asks, gesturing out to the cloudy skies lying below them.

"Glad you like the view, Natasha." Fury says over the comms, and even with only a voice it's easy to tell he's grinning. "It's about to get better." The helicarrier rises up through the clouds, it's huge presence covering up the view, smiles creeping on to both heroes faces. "Nice, right?" Fury asks, standing on the bridge. "I pulled her out of the mothballs with a couple of frieinds. She's a bit dusty, but I think she'll do."

"Fury you complete and utter bastard." Steve says, hands falling to his side. Fury's laughter echoes over the comm lines.

"Language, Captain." He replies cheerfully, and everyone in the city rushes forward to stare at the helicarrier as it comes in to full view.

"Altitude is 18000 and climbing." Maria Hill says.

"Hill, you're here too?" Natasha questions. "Please tell me someone had the common sense to bring a way to actually get on to this thing."

Hill smiles. "Lifeboats secure to deploy. Disengage in three, two, one-" She calls out, and the many flying people carriers come out from the Helicarrier's underbelly, landing on to the edge of the city. The people begin to leave the buildings, heading towards the life boats.

"So this is SHIELD?" Wanda asks, standing next to Natasha and Steve, watching the Helicarrier and the lifeboats. Her brother is next to her and they stare at it in awe.

"This is what Shield's supposed to be." Steve tells her, grinning, like a man who has realised that today, today they are going to win. 

"This is not so bad." Pietro comments, leaning back on to the rubble to watch. His breathing is heavy but the smile on his face is so wide, watching as the lifeboats open up the doors.

 

"Alright, Avengers." Steve calls out, smiling. "Let's load 'em up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk why but i never did like clint's motivational speech. like it wasn't bad, it just didn't seem motivational. also it mildly gave off the feeling that the only right path was wanda being an avenger? yeah
> 
> the promo stuff for dr. strange is coming out and on one hand ughh bellweather cullenbart is in it but on the other hand it looks really good? and i mean after thor:ragnorok i won't be watching these movies with my family anymore so may as well enjoy it while i can??
> 
> anyways hope you all enjoyed!


	13. Battle of Novi Grad: Part 3 (It's Quiet Uptown)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry that this is so very late, meant to keep to the schedule but ugh life. the penultimate chapter, everybody. here we go!

Steve watched as the crowds of people previously hiding scared in buildings moved towards the lifeboats that will ferry them to safety. Finally, they have a way to win this fight, a way to save these people - even if he's still unsure the Avengers will be making it out of here alive.

Suddenly, over the comms, Maria shouts out, "We have multiple bogies converging on our starboard flank!" The next wave of Ultrons have returned, flying towards the Helicarrier with speed and assuredness.

"Let's show them what we got." Fury orders with a wave of his hand, and from his position standing on the helicarrier's surface, James Rhodes blasts off in to the sky. 

Within an instant he has shot down two drones and knocked in to two more, pulling back as the robots explode in the sky. "Yes!" He shouts out, pleased with himself. "Now this is gonna be a good story." He says excitedly as he flies down, shooting even more of the drones out of the sky.

"Only if you live to tell it!" Tony shouts back, repulsoring an Ultron who had been about to shoot his friend in the back.

"You think I can't hold my own?" Rhodey questions, firing at three more Ultron drones and quickly dropping them. 

"We get through this, I'll hold your own." Tony quips back, grinning as he and Rhodey fly up together.

"Why do you always have to make it weird?" Rhodey questions, also smiling, as they turn in the air and come flying down, him with guns ablazing and Tony with repulsors hot.

 

On the ground below the Ultron drones haven't shown up, but there is still a rush to get everyone out there quickly. Steve stand on the ground running between points, ordering cops and shield agents how to direct the crowd if people on to the life boats, while Natasha helps people step on, keeping a close watch for drones.

On the higher level of one of the buildings being used for shelter Clint directs a life boat to hover by the side of the building, it's ramp extending down, as he and Wanda help guide people on board as quickly and as safely as possible.

Pietro runs through the city, double checking buildings for any survivors still unfound and then racing them back to where the boats stand, strapping them in to seats at a blur and then racing off again. 

"Number six boat is fully loaded." A shield agent says. "Ready to return to the Helicarrier." Her face is smiling, but she gets interrupted by the sound of an alarm.

"Incoming!" Hill shouts as an Ultron comes crashing at top speed through the window of the Helicarrier, flying head first in to the main command area. The explosion is massive, but the drone comes crawling from it nonetheless.

Hill fires her gun at it, hitting the head three times and utterly destroying it, but the drone continues to crawl towards them. It's Fury who stabs the thing in the chest with some of the rubble, causing it to collapse down. All of the agents sitting in their seats look shocked, most of them still desperately trying to reach for the weapons under their seats, breathing heavily.

 

In the church Ultron punches Thor in the head, knocking him down, and then grips his throat tighly. "You think that you're saving anyone with this delay?" Ultron asks him. "If I turn the key and drop the city a little early, I still accomplish my goal. Humanity won;t survive for long, even if they do survive the initial fall. You know that."

"I am Thor, the Odinson, and as long as there is life in my breast, I will continue to fight!" Thor shouts out, voice hoarse. "I am filled with the might and the power of-" Suddenly, there is a loud clang and Mjolnir comes smashing in to Ultron's chest, causing the robot to fly out of the Church through the door and go sailing far off. "Thank you." Thor tells the Vision. "I was running out of things to say."

The Vision tosses the hammer back to Thor, who catches it easily. "It's terribly well balanced." He notes with intrigue, and Thor grins.

"Well, if there's too much weight, you lose power in the swing." He tells the android, face calm but eyes alight with joy over talk of his favorite weapon.

 

"Okay, I think I got it!" Tony says, halfway out of breath as he maneuvers through the air, destroying Ultron drones. "We create a heat seal, and I can, I can supercharge the spire from below!"

"That just might work!" Rhodey says, also firing as quickly as he can to keep the robots away from the civilians evacuating. "You'd have to be incredibly precise in the heat and timing, but-"

"Running numbers!" FRIDAY calls out, as Iron Man looks up to see that an Ultron has taken out one of the thrusters on a returning life boat. He flies up in a flash and replaces the thruster, guiding the life boat to safe harbor on the Helicarrier. 

"A heat seal could work." FRIDAY announces as the life boat docks. "The power would be enormous, but it is within reserves." The AI flashes up the specific numbers on the screen, and Tony smiles.

"Thor! I got a plan!" He says excitedly.

"We're out of time." The god replies, staring up at the sky. "They're coming for the core." 

"Okay." Stark says, looking at the people evacuating. "Rhodey, you work on protecting everyone, make sure they get on the carrier. Avengers, it's time to work for a living."

Iron Man blasts through the sky and comes flying down in to the church, where the Vision and Thor stand in the center, defending the drill. Pietro runs in, knocking out the drones in his path, and Steve walks up smashing Ultrons with his shield.

The speedster runs towards his sister as they walk towards the fray, grabbing her arm. "You good?" He asks, worriedly, at the way she half limps.

"Yeah." She replies, letting red magic trail down to fix her leg. "You?" Her brother just grins at her before rejoining the fight.

"Hey, Tash!" Clint calls over the comms, as he enters the fight shooting arrows before climbing up with strange ease to the rafters of the decrepit building, shooting down his prey with swift and deadly aim."It's not like you to be running so late to  a fight."

"It's not like you to be so reasonable, Barton." Natasha quips back, pulling up the truck that is littered with the remains of run over Ultron drones. She walks in and punches a drone near the entrance in the face, and then swiftly stabs one of her batons through its chest. "What's the drill?"

"This is the drill." Tony says, gesturing to the device in the center. "If Ultron gets a hand on that core, we lose. End of story." Natasha nods, and looks up through one of the holes in the wall of the church. Ultron floats there, staring at them.

"Is that the best you can do?!" Thor shouts at him, voice echoing through the temporary quiet of the abandoned, ruined city. 

Ultron drones rush through the street and within mere seconds a veritable army stands before them. The Avengers stare at the mass of robots in awe, and Steve curses, quietly, under his breath so as to avoid the joke he knows will be made, even in the midst of battle.

"You had to ask?" He asks Thor, who shrugs and gets in to a fighting stance to prepare for the oncoming horde,

"This isn't even close to the best I can do." Ultron brags. "But look at it. All of you, versus All of Me." The robot laughs, voice echoing. "How can you possibly hope to win this?"

Tony breathes in. "Like the old man said." He says, casting a glance at Steve. "Together."

The Hulk roars.

 

The Ultron drones come running towards the church. 

There are battles, and there are bloodbaths. Their hands are clean with enemies made of metal, but the destruction is evident. There are too many Ultrons but they are all disposable and all quickly disposed of. Bullets, blasts, punches, throws, slices of the shield and arrows through the chest, all knock down the drones.  
  
But they keep coming.

The fight is vicious and unending. For every drone that is destroyed another enters the fray. But in a manner that hasn't quite existed for them in a long time, maybe since New York, maybe forever, the Avengers fight as one. They move with deadly grace and destructive unity. The Ultron drones fall at their hands continuously.  

It's a lucky shot by the Vision that knocks the Ultron Prime down to the ground outside of the church. It is no lucky shot as Iron Man and Thor joined it, blasting at the main robot with all of their combined might. Metal melts and the robot is pushed back, until finally the blast is let up. 

"With the benefit of hindsight. . ." The robot trails off, voice disjuncted, and The Hulk runs up and punches Ultron straight in the chest, causing the robot to fly out of sight. 

The drones run off, scattering through the city and running to the edge of the island. "They're trying to leave the city!" Thor shouted, starting to run after the retreating drones.

"We can't let them leave." Tony tells him, following suit and blasting off. "Not a single one. Rhodey!"

"On it, Tony." Rhodes shouts back, flying to where the Ultron drones are blasting off. "Oh, no, I didn't say you could leave! War Machine, coming at you!" He opens fire, blasting down the robots. Suddenly, on the edge of his vision, the brightly colored android thrusts his hand through the chest at an Ultron drone aiming at the War Machine suit, causing the drone to fall down, dead. "Okay, what the hell?

"You do know that you're still on comms, right Rhodey?" Tony asks with a laugh, firing on even more drones. All he gets is a grumble from the other suit pilot.

 

In the church Steve looks to all of them. "We have to move out. Even I can tell that the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats, help with the final evac. I'll be right behind you, sweeping for stragglers."

"What about the core?" Clint asks, staring at the metallic device protruding from the center of the opened room. 

"I'll protect it." Wanda says, and all eyes turn to her. "It is my duty." She looks at Barton, who nods with a half smile and runs off with Natasha. Steve follows suit, but Pietro stays uncharacteristically still. "Go. Get the people on the boats." 

"I am not leaving you." He says, slowly. 

"I can handle this." She says, blasting apart one of the remaining robots with a flick of her hand. "Come back for me when everyone else is out of the city. No sooner."

"You don't have to do this." He tells her, finally. "This wasn't your fault."

"I am the oldest." She says with an almost weary grin. "I can handle myself better than you."

"If you say so." He tells her with a shrug. "Just, be careful. If you got hurt-" He trails off, staring at her with sad eyes that bury deep in to her soul.

"Just go." She tells her brother right before he runs off, and readies herself, standing next to the core. No matter what he says, this is her fault. And she will fix it.

"Boss," FRIDAY reports as Tony flies to the bottom of the island. "Power levels are way below optimal-"

"Reroute everything." He orders, eyes firm. "We only have one shot at this."

In the abandoned ruins of the city, the Ultron Prime continues on the slow crawl towards the quinjet, hands grasping to reach the still lowered ramp.

 

"You know, I'm thinking about getting an hawk." Clint notes, lounging in the backseat, bow in hand, as they drive through the abandoned city.

"An hawk." Natasha notes. "What, do you suddenly feel the need for an animal side kick?"

"No, no, it would be so cool, you know?" Clint tells her excitedly. "I always wanted to train a hawk. It's not at all like training dogs. Or Kate. Or Liho, even. Plus, who can you say has a hawk?"

"Sam owns a falcon." Natasha notes, deliberatly running over one of the destroyed Ultron bodies. "I don't know anyone who owns a hawk."

"I brought it up with Kate, but she said it was a bit to supervillainy." Clint says as they drive up towards the lifeboats. "I mean, it's not as if it's a white cat or anything."

"I see the Hulk." Natasha says, parking the hotwired car in the middle of the street. "Go and get your ass on a boat before they all leave." Clint salutes and jumps out of the back, as Natasha walks towards where she saw the green giant.

"Hey big guy." She says, slipping one of her gloves off. "Sun's getting real low."

Clint walks towards one of the boats. It is still boarding, but everyone is nearby. A woman lies in a seat, strapped in and bloody, reaching her hand out. "Costel!  _We were in the market_. Costel?" It's easy to see that the Shield officials are ignoring her, and obvious that none of them speak Sokovian. Clint can't even catch most of the words but his eyes latch on to the boy lying in the rubble. Ah. He thinks, and runs towards him.

 

Underneath the floating city, Tony cuts a hole in the mechanisms of the core, staring upwards at the spinning instruments. "Thor, I'm gonna need you back in the church." 

"Is this the last of the people?" Thor asks Steve, watching the life boat load up. 

"Yeah, this is it." Steve says, breathing deeply. "Everyone else is on the carrier."

"You know," Tony starts, staring upwards. "If this works - we maybe don't walk away."

"Maybe not." Thor says, looking at Steve. 

Natasha stands with her hand outstretched, not in the way typical to the Lullaby procedure, but palm upwards, as if she's seeking acceptance. Begging forgiveness. She watches the Hulk and his hesitant movements, watches his eyes, wondering. Always it pains her, betraying those she loves, yet she does it again, and again, and again.

He reaches out slower than usual to touch her. His hand is gentle, and they barely brush fingertips until the rush of the quinjet fills the air and suddenly there is gunfire. Banner wraps himself protectively around her even as Natasha reaches for her weapons, and he jumps up and out of the city, leaping towards the helicarrier.

"Even if I can't end humanity," Ultron notes from the seat of the quinjet, "The Avengers will not leave Novi Grad as one." He opens fire on the city, aiming at where the Avengers stand watching the remaining few people board the life boats. Clint panics, wrapping his arms tightly around the boy he is holding, and in slow motion Pietro watches in terror.

He runs out, picking up the archer in one swift motion and running past the bullets, depositing them were the lifeboats stand. Mother reunites with son, and overhead the Hulk jumps on to the quinjet as it ascends in to the sky, ripping Ultron out of the pilot seat and sending him crashing down right outside of the church that lies at the city's center.

"You did good, kid-" Clint starts to say, turning to where Pietro stands on the ground before the lifeboat smiling. He is interrupted, however, by the flash of light as a repulsor tears through the speedster's chest leaving a painfully bright red hole in it's wake. 

  
He falls down to the ground as a thought to be dead Ultron drone hits it's final target.

 

In the heart of the city, Wanda turns to the Ultron Prime who has crawled before her, either to beg her mercy or to activate the core she guards. Her mind goes blank, a link severed, and as Ultron starts to say her name, she screams out, eyes a scarlet red and hands outstretched, wielding more power than she has used over the course of the entire battle.

Pietro Maximoff lies dead, inches away from the child he saved and the step to safety.

Wanda Maximoff screams out in the center of the city,  her pained voice echoing through the thin air, through the silence of the abandoned city.

 

The world flashes red.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)


	14. Battle of Novi Grad: Part 4 (End of the End (New Beginnings))

There are exactly three things one must understand about Wanda Maximoff, if you are to understand what happened there as Ultron retreated and the evacuation completed. As the battle stood at its highest point, and fell to its lowest.

The first is that she loves her brother with a fiery passion, with the willpower of two people who will not stop, who will persist until the end.

The second is that she has lost enough people in her life, and that she can not, will not lose any more.

The third is that not even Hydra understands what they have unleashed upon the world.

 The process was haphazard, uncertain. They did not know how to find the subjects with the potential. They did not know how to control the powers created. They didn’t even know how to ensure powers would be created. The twins were the first and last of those molded in to superbeings by the insight of the mind stone, and even knowing what had sparked the insight would not prepare you to understand it’s might.

They wrote down scientific explanations and terms for what they had created. Most of it was observational guess work, based on how their powers presented. They guessed Pietro’s fairly accurately. They didn’t come close with Wanda.

There are no clear accounts of what happened at that pivotal moment in the battle. No one was there, next to Wanda, though the flash of grief and pain and anger that echoed in the backs of everyone’s minds was undeniably hers.

There no clear accounts of what happened. No one was there to see Wanda floating above the ground with red eyes and the aura of something different. Otherworldly, perhaps. Powerful, undeniably.

The flash of scarlet, crimson red came pouring out, more than sparks, more than hexes, a veritable wave of enchantment that crashed over Novi Grad from the center, echoing through the buildings and the dirt and the people on the edge, looking on. Every single Ultron even touching the island fell to parts.

And lying, on the ground before the life boat, his dead body still bleeding, Pietro was enveloped by the wave.

The redness dissipated. The onlookers shook their eyes in confusion, uncertain of what had happened save for the longing that lingered in their minds.

On the ground before the life boat, Pietro Maximoff lay there, whole. He pushes himself off of the ground, weak, his brain confused. Clint Barton extends an uncertain hand. He has seen unusual things, but this one takes the cake.

 

In the center of the city, on the floor of the church, Wanda collapses to the ground as the red energy fizzles away. Her hair is spread in the dust like a halo around her and she lies there, eyes shut, breathing the long slow breaths of someone who has been awake for so long and finally succumbed to sleep. Her skin is dirty from the fight but her face has been marked by the clear tear streaks, and it is as the redness finally fades from her hands that the wave of redness dissipates.

Steve runs over to where Clint hovers over Pietro, staring. Everything had happened so quickly, and he had remembered the blast – remembered the noise and the silence, but the red had washed over everything and nothing seemed clear. He helped Pietro to his feet as Clint crushed his boot in to the Ultron that had fired the shot.

“Are you alright?” Steve asks him, helping him on to the platform. Pietro’s eyes are confused and he still bears the injuries from the fight, but in all other accounts it seemed as if whatever had happened before hadn’t really happened.

“Yes.” He says. “I am going to – ah, lie here for a second.” With that he collapses on the ground, at it is Steve’s hand that moves him to lie down on the seats and not hit his head on the cold metal floor of the life boat. The last round of Sokovian refugees straps in, and Clint is one of the last in the city, his eyes scanning for anything at all remaining, Ultron or human.

It is in the church where Wanda lays that the final Ultron in the city makes its move.  Carefully, it sets itself down by the core, and turns the key.

 

It takes an instant for the city to start falling.

 

Stark is knocked downwards by the force, and Clint is pushed away as the rock he stands on begins to fall. Within a second he has jumped up, hand latching itself on to the ramp as the ground he had been standing on moments before falls down towards the Earth. He pulls himself up on his own, as everyone watches what may just be the extinction of humanity. 

Underneath the city the Iron Man suit is knocked aside by the force, and he flies back towards the center. “Thor!” He calls out, breathing heavy as he falls with the city through the sky. “Plan is in effect! You need to hit the core now!” He lets loose the blast from his chest and the energy spirals upwards through the Vibranium.

“Lady Wanda is here with me!” Thor replies, staring at her and holding his hammer. “She will not survive the blast –“

“We don’t have any time!” Tony calls back, eyes wide. “If you don’t hit the core, the world is done for! Humanity is done for!” He knows that the blast will be deadly to all within range – he knows the likelihood that he himself will die. But he can’t let that stop him. He can’t let Ultron win.

Thor raises Mjolnir above his head, summoning electricity, as the Vision flies in to the church and picks up the unconscious body of Wanda, staring at Thor for a spare moment before ascending in to the sky with her in arm. With the full force of Asgard behind him, Thor slams Mjolnir down in to the Vibranium core at the center of the city, and there is a blast.

The city tears itself apart at the seams, ripped to shreds by the force of the impact, pulverizing most and letting the rest rain down in a dusty debris over the world. Rocks hurtle in to the ocean and both Tony and Thor go crashing down in to the waves with them.

 

Overhead, in the quinjet with which Ultron had tried to escape, the Hulk stands. Over the video screen Natasha calls, her face a mask that just barely breaks and lets all the worry underneath show.

“Hey Big guy.” She says to the empty screen that sits before her on the Helicarrier, in the empty room she has commandeered from the busy personnel. No one knows that she’s doing this. No one knows that Banner hasn’t been recovered. Yet. “We finished the job. We won.”

The Hulk walks over to her, crouching, staring at her with wide, almost apologetic eyes. He fixes on her face, which is cracking more and more as she continues to speak.

“I need you to turn that bird around, okay?” She says to him, softly, except her voice isn’t soft. It’s her lullaby voice. “I can’t track you in stealth mode. Help me out, please.” Her voice is calm and melodic and soothing but her eyes are sad and nigh heart broken.

He reaches his hands and touches her face, ever so briefly, before turning off the communications link and leaving her to sit there, in the empty room, staring at the blank screen. Minutes away from what she had needed to find him. The Hulk sits down in the cramped cockpit and stares at the sky, letting his memories fade away as the quinjet flew softly through the high air.

 

The Helicarrier descends, full of people, headed towards a hospital. The Vision lands gently next to where the life boat carrying Pietro is, as they run him and many others off to medical treatment. Clint shakes his hand, as someone offers assistance, and is the only one there who stares up as the Vision hovers over the Helicarrier’s deck, letting Wanda step down. 

As it starts to fly away, Clint stops him. “You aren’t going to stay?” He asks, though his tone, while casual, implies the real question – ‘Where are you going?’

“There is one remaining body of Ultron.” The Vision announces, calmly. Wanda moves as if she will go with him, but the Vision holds out a hand to stop her. “Do not worry. I will deal with them myself.”

 

In the forest, outside of the crater that used to be the heart of Novi Grad, a ruined Ultron crawls out, stepping in to the serene wild as the sun begins to set. The drone is ruined, crawling, one leg mangled, yet it persists.

“You’re afraid.” The Vision notes, landing down in to the clearing. The drone stairs up at it, red eyes dull with a lack of energy, and gives out an eerie, discordant laugh.

“Of you?” The robot questions, staring. They try to stand, or at least sit up instead of lying on the forest floor.

“Of death.” The Vision corrects, looking down at the Ultron struggling to stand. “You’re the last one.”

“You were-“ Ultron starts. “You were supposed to be the last.” Another laugh, this one sputtering and dying and cracking electronically. “Stark asked for a savior, but he settled for a slave.”

“I suppose we’re both disappointments, then.” The Vision notes, kneeling down where the Ultron lies on the ground.

“I suppose we are.” There is a silence, interrupted only by the wind and by the sounds of a failing body trying it’s best to stand.

“Humans are odd.” The Vision finally says, moving from kneeling to sitting down. “They think that order and chaos are opposites, and try to control what won’t be. But there is grace in their failings. I think you missed that.”

“They’re doomed.”

“Yes.” The Vision admits, eyes cloudy. “But a thing isn’t beautiful because it lasts. It is a privilege to be among them.”

The final Ultron makes inches closer, pulling themself up to a kneeling position, eyes level wit the synthezoid. “You are so naïve.” The drone says. “It will be your undoing.”

“Perhaps.” The Vision replies. “I mean, I was born yesterday.” Ultron lunges forward, one hand heading towards forehead to grasp the mind stone from its faceting, the other towards the weak section of the neck bearing a way to reach the circuitry.

With calm serenity the Vision reaches up, cradling Ultron’s head in its hands, and lets the last specks of energy drain out of the dying, ruined robot. Fingers go limp and the powerless husk of the final Ultron body collapses in to the Vision’s lap, still gently cradled by the synthezoid’s hands.

 

Clint locks eyes with Wanda. They stand in an out of the way corner in a European Shield base, everyone who would typically be watching them instead too caught up in trying to figure out how to deal with all of Sokovians everywhere.

“I know why you have to do this.” He says, staring at her. “But do you?”

“I have no idea what I’m doing.” The girl admits. “But I know why I’m doing it.” She pauses at that, breathing in. “I wanted to thank you. I’m not certain anyone other than Pietro has believed in me like that in a long time.”

“I knew you needed it.” Clint tells her, grasping her hand gently. “Sure we got to a rough start, but I want you to know that I respect and trust you. You know where to find me if you ever need any help.”

She hugs him then, tightly, and he mostly stands there stock still in a bit of shock. With that being done, she smiles at him and disperses in to the nearby crowd of refugees, and within minutes even he has lost her.

“Who was that?” Natasha asks, walking up. “Please don’t tell me you were flirting with some random Sokovian. You need to learn to keep it in your pants.”

Clint laughs at that, taking a moment to remember how Wanda had disguised herself as an unfamiliar face in everyone else’s minds. “Nothing like that, Tasha.” He says light heartedly. “She just wanted to thank me for saving her life.”

“Sure.” Natasha says, but her heart isn’t really in to the teasing, so Clint continues along anyways.

“Kate texted me.” Clint says. “They saw the report. She says Liho really misses you, and that we had better get back their quickly because your cat is getting on her nerves with all his worrying.” He pauses for a moment after that. “I’m going to be speaking to a guy about a bird first, but feel free to leave without me.”

“I’m not going back.” Natasha says, much to his surprise. “Steve has decided to assemble a more official, unified Avengers team, and he wants me to help train them.”

“Whatever floats your boat.” Clint says. “I guess I’ll see you whenever, then. Try and drop by sometime though, okay?”

She nods, and hugs him farewell, before climbing up the stairs to where Fury leans over the railing, watching the whole base.

“An unidentified object crashed in to the Banda Sea.” He notes, handing a tablet to her. “Not sure what it is, exactly, but it isn’t rocks. We think it might be a quinjet, but there’s no way to be certain.”

“Yeah.” Natasha says, staring at  the tablet quietly, keeping her face as good a mask as she can manage.

“He probably jumped out and swam to Fiji.” Fury reassures her, starting a movement to pat her on the back but halting it midway. “I’m sure he’ll send a postcard.”

“Wish you were here.” Natasha says with a bitter laugh, returning the tablet and turning to stare Fury in the eye. “Nick, you sent me to recruit him, back then. Did you know what was going to happen, between us?”

“Natasha, you know damn well that I’m making it up as I go along.” Fury replies. “Who could have foreseen any of this? But the plan worked, and I got a team. A great fucking team at that.”

“You wouldn’t think by looking at us.” Natasha replies, staring out in to the sky. “Then again, nothing lasts forever.”

“I think you’d be surprised.” Fury tells her, before walking down the steps and towards the crowd of people below.

 

“The rules have changed.” Steve notes, dramatically, as they stand in the shiny new elevator of the shiny New Avengers base, a base that Stark, apparently, had been working on for months before hand.

“Well, we’re dealing with something entirely new.” Stark adds in, staring dramatically at the structure passing by through the glass panes, staring at the agents setting up the base.

“The Vision is artificial intelligence.” Steve notes seriously.

“A machine.” Tony says. “Not a person.”

“But it still has a mind, a sentience.” Steve counters. “So does it count, or not?”

“No.” Tony decides. “It’s not the same thing as a person lifting the hammer, right?”

“So different rules for us, then?” Steve asks, as the elevator begins to slow to a halt.

“The Vision’s nice and all, but still artificial. Doesn’t count.” The doors open and they step out to where Thor is waiting on the ground floor, bedecked in full armor and looking amused. “Right?”

“Anyone who can lift the hammer is worthy, regardless of from whence they came.” Thor notes, joining the pair as they begin to walk outside. “And anyone worthy is a noble wielder for the stone. It is safe in the Vision’s hands, and now more than ever safe is in short supply.”

“But if you put it in an elevator,” Steve adds, questioning.

“It still goes up.” Tony replies, with assuredness made by testing the idea late at night.

“But is the elevator worthy?” Steve asks.

“Of course not.” Tony replies. “Hey, are we even certain that humans can wield the hammer?” Tony questions, walking backward and walking quickly to keep up. “I mean, how do we know it’s not some Asgardian trick?”

“There are Midgardians who have lifted Mjolnir.” Thor says with a jovial laugh. “One is even in the building now!”

“Wait really, who?” Tony and Steve question at once, both running through possible candidates in their heads.

“I am going to miss these little talks of ours.” Thor says, walking out of the large doors and out on to the grassy lawn.

“Well, if you don’t leave, you won’t have to miss them.” Tony reconciles, hands outstretched. “Good bargain deal all around.”

“I have no choice.” Thor tells them. “The Mind Stone is the third of the Infinity Stones that I have encountered in a few short years, and the fourth to show up. Someone has been playing an intricate game and has made pawns of us. But when all the pieces are in position . . .” He trails off, eyes staring at nothing but the vibrant life around them.

“Triple Yahtzee?” Tony suggests with a smirk, which is promptly ignored.

“Do you think that you can find out what’s coming?” Steve asks, worry creeping in to his voice.

“I do.” Thor says with a grin. “Beside this one,” he gestures to Tony with a wide smile, “There is nothing in the universe that can’t be explained, eventually.” He raises Mjolnir up to the sky and the Bifrost comes crashing down, carrying him up and leaving a sigil burned on the grass where he had been standing.

“That man has absolutely no regard for lawn maintenance.” Stark complains with a chuckle. “I will miss him though. And you’re gonna miss me. There’s going to be a lot of very manly tears going all around.” They walked down towards where the road was, and where Stark’s car sat parked besides the trees.

“In all honesty, I will miss you Tony.” Steve says, giving his friend a one armed hug. “It’s always good to fight by your side, however annoying you might get.”

“You know,” Tony starts, leaning against the car, “I think I’m really ready to take a break from all of this superhero stuff. Maybe I’ll steal Barton’s plan, build a farm for me and Pepper out in the middle of nowhere. Or get someone to build one for me and Pepper, I guess.”

“The simple life.” Steve says with a laugh.

“Don’t worry, Gramps, you’ll get there one day.” Tony replies, slapping him on the back.

“You know, I’m not certain that I want that.” He says. “A simple life. I mean – I’m not sure I could even handle it, you know?”

“You alright?” Tony asks, worried look in his eyes.

“Yeah, I think.” Steve says, leaning on the car door as Tony jumps over the hood and slides in to his seat. “I mean, I’m home.”

 

Inside the building, Steve walks in to the empty room where Natasha stands, staring at nothing in particular. “You want to keep staring at the wall, or do you want to go to work? I mean, it’s a pretty interesting wall.” 

Natasha does not jump, but it is fairly obvious that she is surprised and didn’t notice him as he came in. “I thought you and Tony were still gazing in to each other’s eyes.” She comments with a grin, walking over with the slightest limp, that also well hidden “So, how do we look?”

“I mean,” Steve starts. “We’re not the ’27 Yankees.”

“Well, we’ve got some hitters.” She notes as they walk down through the hallways.

“They’re good.” Steve admits. “But they’re not a team. Not yet.”

“Eh, we’ll beat them in to shape.” Natasha says with a laugh, and they walk through the doors to where they are all gathered. The crowd isn’t large, but it is a decent size – sticking out from the heads of the gathered superheroes are familiar faces. Pietro dashes in and out, the Vision sticks out like a sore thumb, Rhodey floats in the air, and Ant man jumps to full size as they enter the room.

Sam lands down smoothly behind Steve, straightening his posture to pretend like he wasn’t just goofing off and testing the brand new wings he’d been given a few days before. Steve and Natasha stand front and center.

“Avengers-"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ASSEMBLE!!!!!
> 
> what?? i finished it?? and on time too?? don't worry i'm just as surprised as all of you are.
> 
> you might be wondering, 14 out of 14 chapters, ffwydriad, are you telling us that we aren't getting any after credits scenes? don't worry my wonderful friends, i have you covered.
> 
> on the five weekdays of next week, i will post 5 seperate drabbles, which will serve as your extra scenes. take that marvel. you barely gave us one for aou, but i, i am giving you five!!
> 
> in reality, they are not actually after credit scenes. they are just stand alone fics. but i can dream, right?
> 
> i really hoped all y'all enjoyed this, and if there is anything, literally anything you think could make this better, please tell me! even ages after the fact! i want to perfect this and i will!
> 
> anyways farewell!! i mean i'll be seeing you in a few days but FAREWELL ANYWAYS AND GOOD TIDINGS TO ALL!!


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